Five dead in avalanche

FIVE German mountaineers have died after being hit by an avalanche in South Tyrol, in northern Italy, rescuers said yesterday.

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Three victims - two men and a woman - were recovered on Saturday, while the bodies of two other missing people, a man and his 17-year-old daughter, were found yesterday morning.

"They had been dragged to the lower part of the gully where the avalanche occurred," a local Alpine rescue spokesman, Federico Catania, said.

"Rescue teams are now returning to the valley, also considering the worsening weather conditions at high altitude."