Alpine climbers die in cold wave

Six mountain climbers have died of exposure in the Alps when temperatures plunged to well below freezing, Italian and French officials said yesterday.

The six died in three separate incidents on Tuesday while much of Italy was grappling with a heatwave that spawned brush fires that killed at least two people.

French authorities found four dead climbers on the Bionassay crest, on the French side of Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak. Three of the climbers were identifed as being from Chile, France and from New Zealand. Authorities are trying to confirm the nationality of the fourth person. The four were students in the French city of Grenoble and between 20 and 25 years old but French authorities could not confirm their ages.

A fifth climber, a Belgian man in his 50s, died in the Italian Alps in the Trentino area of northeastern Italy, police officials said.

A sixth person died near Monte Rosa, about 40 km east of Mont Blanc, an Italian civil protection official said late on Tuesday.

Italian newspapers identified the victim as a 49-year-old German woman.