A four-year old girl has been found alive, hiding under the bodies of a suspected British family that were shot dead in their car near Lake Annecy in the French Alps.

Officials say the unharmed child was found around midnight local time hiding under one of the two women that were killed at the back of the UK-registered BMW, who along with the male driver are believed to be a British family on holiday.

A cyclist, said to be a local man, was also found dead nearby. A second older girl was found lying in the road, and is now in critical condition. The killings took place in a car park near the village of Chevaline in the Haute-Savoie region, a popular tourist destination in Eastern France.

Head of the police investigation, Benoit Vinnemann, said: "The three bodies found in the car appear to be the father, mother and grandmother." The family had been staying at a campsite in nearby Saint-Jorioz with their two daughters and the British Foreign Office is trying to establish the identities.

Police say there are still no clues as to the motive for the killings.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner