Climbers killed in Alps fall

FIVE German climbers were killed and a sixth seriously injured after an accident in the Austrian Alps on Sunday, rescue services said.

The accident occurred below the Mannlkarscharte pass, about 80km south of the central city of Salzburg, when a rope came loose after one of the group skidded while climbing on a glacier at an altitude of 3000m.

Witnesses from another group said two of the climbers “tried to prevent the fall by using ice picks, but to no avail,” said local mountain rescue chief Franz Gensbichler.

Five helicopters were sent to the scene, and the surviving climber was transported to a hospital in Schwarzach where he was said to be in serious condition.