An avalanche broke loose on the east face of Punta Valgrande on Sunday, taking five skiers with it. Three of them died, the other two were taken to hospital with injuries.
There was a serious avalanche accident in the northern Italian region of Piedmont on Sunday. A group of five skiers were caught in an avalanche there.
According to the authorities, three of them died. Two survivors were rescued and taken to hospital. The avalanche had come loose on the east face of Punta Valgrande, a peak in the Alps on the border between Italy and Switzerland. The injured skiers were swept several hundred meters away.
An avalanche warning had previously been issued for the affected area. Two mountaineers had already lost their lives in an avalanche accident in the Italian region of Abruzzo in December.