Three hikers fall to their deaths in Italy

A man hiking with his daughter fell to his death while climbing the Cimon della Pala peak in the Dolomite mountains, Rai News reported.

The unnamed man from Treviso, north-east Italy, had gone ahead of his daughter to check the route when he slipped and fell around 80 metres.

The hikers were well-prepared with ice-axes and wearing crampons to tread the snow-covered mountain, Rai News said.

The accident happened the same day an Italian couple died in the Valchiavenna area, close to the Swiss border. Lino Pozzoli, 69, and 54-year-old Valeria Nunzi were hiking in the Pizzaccio valley when they fell to their deaths, Ansa said.

Hours after the accident happened, at around 2.00pm on Sunday, a mountain rescue crew was still trying to recover their bodies from the inaccessible area.