Four climbers die after ice detaches from mountainside

Four climbers have died after a slab of ice detached from a mountainside near Italy's northern border with Switzerland, Alpine emergency crews said.

A fifth climber survived the incident on Thursday in Gressony-Saint-Jean, in the Val d’Aosta region.

The head of the Val d’Aosta Alpine rescue service, Adriano Favre, told RAI state television the climbers were probably experienced given the peak was a difficult one to climb.

He suggested a sudden rise in temperatures on Wednesday might have caused the chunk of ice to melt enough for it to detach.

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AP