The Glacier des Bossons. Photo: Christian CC-BY-SA-2.0

A British man and his 12-year-old son have died in a falls on the Mont Blanc massif in France.

The 48-year-old was believed to be trying to rescue his son when he himself fell to his death on the Couloir des Bossons.

The boy fell several hundred metres yesterday, Saturday and his father rang the Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne, the French Alpine rescue service about 2.30pm.

The PGHM in Chamonix said the pair were not equipped for Alpine mountaineering.

The couloir route, near the Bossons Glacier, is steep and its rocks are slippery the rescuers said.

The PGHM made three sorties to try to find the pair, and their bodies were found about 7.40am today.

The walkers are believed to be from Buckinghamshire, but have not yet been named.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: “We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time.”