Two hikers trekking in the Italian Alps on snowshoes were killed Sunday when an avalanche struck a slope near the Swiss border, rescue authorities said.
The avalanche occurred around noon at an altitude of 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) in the Formazza Valley in Piedmont region, Italian mountain rescue group CNSAS said in a statement.
Rescuers said the body of one snowshoe hiker was found buried in the snow, and the body of another was recovered from a lake after being swept down a slope by the force of an avalanche.
Rescue team spokesman Federico Catania said the search operation began after guards at a nearby embankment reported an avalanche that had struck two climbers, the Associated Press reported.
The deadly Lake Tahoe avalanche of 1982 revealed hidden dangers at the popular ski resort to this day.
Divers are lowered from a helicopter to retrieve the body of a hiker after an avalanche hits a lake in the Italian Alps. (Vigili del Fuoco)
Rescuers braved strong winds and poor visibility to arrive at the scene by helicopter and search for the hikers, rescue officials said. A trained rescue dog helped find the body in the snow.
Two people hiking in snowshoes were killed in an avalanche, Italian mountain rescue teams said. (AP Photo/Fabio Polimeni, File)
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Italy's Vigili del Fuoco rescue team said it used a helicopter to lower divers in a “complex” effort to retrieve the body of a hiker who was washed into a lake.
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Authorities did not immediately release the identities of the two climbers, but Italian media reported the victims were a 30-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man from the northern Italian region of Lombardy, according to Reuters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
