FOUR CLIMBERS have been killed in an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands.
The climbers were among a party of six, of three men and three women, when a slope broke away and swept over them.
Five of the six were then swept down the mountain, killing four of them. The fifth climber in that group remains in a serious condition in hospital.
The emergency services were alerted by the sixth climber, who managed to avoid the avalanche as it arrived.
A mountain rescue worker told the Associated Press that the dead climbers could only found by staff who pushed metal sticks into the snow.
“I’m not sure how deeply buried they were, but using that technique would suggest it was more than a metre,” he said.
Channel 4 News quoted Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond, who said the loss of the four climbers was an “appalling tragedy”.
Prayers were said for the climbers at church services in the region this morning.
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