Five German nationals killed in avalanche in Italy's South Tyrol province

Five German mountaineers have died in an avalanche disaster in the Ortler mountainous region of Italy's South Tyrol. On Sunday, Italian rescue teams found the bodies of the last two missing Germans, a father and his 17-year-old daughter.

Three other members' bodies of the group had already been recovered on Saturday, two men and a woman, aged between 30 and 50.

According to the mountain rescue service, hope to find the two remaining climbers alive was extinguished on Saturday evening. Due to weather conditions, the operations were suspended during the night and on Sunday rescue operations resumed, and two other bodies were recovered.

The father and his daughter were "certainly" dead after a fall of around 200 metres, said Olaf Reinstadler, a spokesperson for the mountain rescue service. Investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing.

'Hardly a chance to escape'

According to the Italian mountain rescue service, the accident occurred on Saturday afternoon shortly before 4 pm at an altitude of around 3,200 metres. The five climbers were on their way up to the 3,545 metre high Vertainspitze in the Ortler region when the snow broke loose, causing an avalanche.

According to previous findings, the mountaineers were travelling in three rope teams, one group of three and two groups of two, who were climbing independently of each other.

Two men survived the accident and were airlifted to a nearby hospital in Bolzano by helicopter.

It is unclear why the climbers were still on their way up at this late hour. According to the rescuers, the group had started their tour in the morning. The avalanche started when it was already beginning to get dark.

It broke loose about a hundred metres below the summit. The climbers were apparently taken completely by surprise. On the steep passage, where they were travelling with crampons and ice axes, there was hardly any chance of escape. Two men who observed the avalanche from a distance raised the alarm and called the rescue services.

North face is considered particularly challenging

According to Reinstadler, there was actually no particularly high avalanche risk on Saturday. It is possible that the avalanche came loose as a result of heavy drifts because the newly fallen snow was not yet sufficiently bonded to the ground.

The first fresh snow of the season fell in the region a few days ago. During the day, the temperatures there are still quite high for this time of year.

In the mountaineering community, the north face is considered a "high alpine ice tour," for which a rope and full ice climbing equipment are required.