Girl found alive in car hours after French car killings

French police have found a girl of about four years old alive inside a British-registered BMW car where they discovered three people shot dead on Wednesday, a public prosecutor said.               

The English-speaking girl was discovered on the floor between the front and back seats of the car, under the legs of two dead women thought to be her mother and grandmother, on a remote forest road near Lake Annecy in southeastern France.            

A man thought to be her father was also found dead in the driver's seat of the same car when police arrived at the scene on Wednesday afternoon.               

The police also discovered another dead man, who had apparently been riding a bicycle, in the immediate vicinity of the car and another young girl of around eight who was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.             

The young girl went unnoticed for eight hours until investigators began a close inspection of the car late on Wednesday because she had not dared move after the massacre.                

"She started smiling and speaking English as soon as a  gendarme from the Chambery search brigade took her in his arms and got her out of the car," Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud told journalists during a late night readout on inquiries.               

The girl of about eight, thought to be the sister of the young girl was placed under police protection in hospital. The girl of about four was also sent to hospital in the nearby city of Grenoble.                

Investigators believe the victims may be a British family who were on holiday in the region, and that the cyclist found dead near the car was a local man identified after his wife reported him missing, Maillaud said.  

REUTERS