A desperate search for eight climbers swept up in a giant avalanche appeared to have ended in failure last night as rescue workers near Mont Blanc suspended their most difficult mission of a deadly summer.

A total of 16 people disappeared when they were hit by a wall of snow in a predawn ascent: eight were found alive – mostly buried in snow – but eight others were missing despite efforts to locate them in highly unstable conditions on the slopes of the Franco-Italian border.

Amid fears that a second avalanche could hit rescue teams, the search was suspended in mid-afternoon. “There is no longer any chance of finding anyone alive,” said Michèle Alliot-Marie, France’s Interior Minister, after she travelled to the mountains.

Eighty per cent of those dug out within 20 minutes of an avalanche survive. After two hours the figure plummets to about 10 per cent. Three helicopters and 14 mountain guides were brought in to help police teams with dogs to look for the missing climbers, who are believed to be from Switzerland and Austria.

Times Archive, 1934: Lost In Mont Blanc Crevasse

After being trapped for a week climber M. Guy Labour, is rescued a little worse for wear, but alive

• Times Archive, 1985: Mont Blanc exacts its toll: 31 deaths in two months

• Times Archive, 1964: 14 Climbers Die In Mont Blanc Avalanche

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The eight who were found were all taken to hospital in France. The avalanche, which occurred when a block of ice broke away from its base, comes after Alpine emergency services in France, Italy and Switzerland reported more than 100 deaths among climbers and walkers so far this summer.

French police say the latest incident came when at least two groups of climbers were hit by a wall of snow as they headed up the 4,250m (13,900ft) Mont Blanc du Tacul. The avalanche that careered down the mountain was 200m long and 50m wide.Other climbers told The Times that officials had issued repeated warnings over the past week about the dangers, in unfavourable weather conditions, of the ascent which involves reaching the top of Mont Blanc after scaling Mont Blanc du Tacul.

Goulven Cuzon, a mountain guide, joined the rescue operation when the avalanche struck at 3am. “We came across people who were coming back injured, their faces bloody, a guy who was limping,” he said. “Then we found the first casualty who had a broken leg and after that we find the guide who has three bust vertebrae. People with hypothermia, people in panic, people who had been through something horrific.” He found one group of climbers roped together, who had been swept down the mountain by the avalanche. “They were white from head to foot but they were okay,” he said. Oliver Potts, a climber from London, had to be taken off Mont Blanc du Tacul by helicopter. He said: “We met guys coming up who said there was no slope left – it had all slipped off. We walked past lots of great wedges of snow waiting to fall.”

The high alpine death rate this summer has been caused by cold spells followed by warm days making the snow unstable, according to French officials.

Yan Giezendanner, a forecaster with Méteo France, the French weather office, said weather played little part in the break-up of the serac – the ice block – which he claimed could not have been predicted:“It was just that the ice was too heavy.”

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