Three people killed and two missing after avalanche in Italy

The alarm was raised at around 3.50pm today (Picture: Getty) Three people have died after an avalanche pummeled through them in Italy’s Ortles mountain today. The incident happened as two groups of hikers reached 3,200 metres in Cima Vertana, a train in the South Tyrol. The first, which consisted of three people, was engulfed engulfed by the monstrous flow of snow and ice. A woman and two men were killed, while two others are injured. Another two mountaineers are still missing. The victims have been identified as German nationals. They have not yet been named, but all were all ‘young’, AGI News reported. The alarm was raised around 3.50 PM after the avalanche reportedly broke away from below the summit. Two helicopters, ‘Pelikan 1’ and ‘Pelikan 3,’ were dispatched to the scene, along with volunteer firefighters and rescue teams. Among mountaineering and ski mountaineering enthusiasts, the 3,545-metre-high Cima Vertana is one of the most popular peaks in the area. Search operations are ongoing to find the two hikers who are still missing and possibly trapped in the snow. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.