Bodies of three Italian skiers found after avalanche

Rescuers on Friday recovered the bodies of three Italian skiers killed in an avalanche on the French-Italian border, while a French off-piste skier died after a fall, authorities said. 

It has been a deadly week in the Alps on the border between France and Italy, with six people killed on Sunday after an avalanche hit near Mont Blanc.

Early Friday, rescuers found the bodies of three Italian skiers who were buried by an avalanche the day before on the Pointe de la Golette, an alpine peak on the border between the Aosta Valley in Italy and France’s Savoy.

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The bodies were transported to the city of Aosta for formal identification, a spokesman for the Valdostano Alpine Rescue, Tiziano Trevisan, told AFP.

Weather conditions

Their guide, an experienced off-piste skier, freed himself after the avalanche hit and raised the alarm.

He is in hospital, but his condition is not serious, Trevisan said.

Helicopters and ground rescue teams were unable to reach the site of the avalanche on Thursday due to poor weather conditions.

The Pointe de la Golette, located east of France’s popular Val D’Isere ski area, reaches an altitude of 3,100 metres (10,170 feet).

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Separately on Friday, in the vicinity of the Italian resort Courmayeur, rescuers found the body of a French skier who appeared to have fallen from a rocky cliff.

The details of the accident were being examined, Trevisan said.

Another avalanche

On Sunday, an avalanche struck the Armancette glacier near Mont Blanc on the French side of the Alps, killing six people, including two mountain guides.

The avalanche, which occurred without warning, covered a huge area of 1,600 metres (nearly one mile) by 500 metres.