Four climbers from Italy and South Korea were found dead on Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, on Tuesday after being missing for three days in severe weather, according to local authorities in France.
The Haute-Savoie prefecture informed AFP that the mountaineers “died of exhaustion.” Rescuers discovered the bodies of the two Koreans first, followed by the two Italians nearby.
A helicopter from the PGHM mountain police in Annecy was able to land at the site at around 1:30 pm (1130 GMT) and found the bodies between 100 and 200 meters (330-660 feet) from the summit. “The bodies have been brought down,” confirmed the PGHM’s Chamonix branch, adding that the families of the victims had been notified.
An Italian mountain rescue team had reached the summit on foot earlier in the day but did not spot the bodies, police said.
The authorities were alerted late on Saturday about “three missing climbing groups near the summit of Mont Blanc in very poor weather conditions.” It was noted that the climbers had set out “without guides.”
On Sunday morning, a rescue operation successfully retrieved two Koreans alive at an altitude of 4,100 meters (13,450 feet). However, worsening weather conditions in the following days hampered further rescue efforts.
A search helicopter had to turn back on Tuesday morning due to thick clouds obscuring Mont Blanc. A senior PGHM commander told Le Dauphiné Libéré that rescuers had briefly made phone contact with the Italian climbers, determining their location at 4,600 meters on Mont Blanc’s north face, but the connection was lost.
Standing at 4,809 meters, Mont Blanc is the tallest peak in Western Europe and attracts climbers from around the world.
