Five climbers killed in Austria’s Zillertal Alps

Five mountain climbers have died in Austria’s Zillertal Alps, bringing the death toll of this weekend’s mountaineering to eight.

According to Austria’s Red Cross, the five victims were climbing at around 2,000 metres on Mount Gabler, east of Innsbruck, and were roped together when they fell. 

Five rescue helicopters were sent to the scene but only one climber survived and is now being treated in a Salzurg hospital. 

The cause of the incident is currently unknown. Emergency responders are working to recover the bodies. 

"We think a rope may have come loose," said Anton Voithofer of the Red Cross rescue team.

The nationalities of the dead climbers have not yet been released.  

In a separate accident, three Italian climbers died on a glacier in the Ademello Brenta Park near Trento, in the Italian Alps.

Two of them were killed after falling into a crevasse. A third was rescued but later died, according to the Associated Press.