Bodies of mountaineers found dangling from climbing ropes near peak

Two Austrian mountaineers have died while attempting to summit a 2,500-meter (8,200-foot) peak in Italy's Julian Alps, the mountain rescue service of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region bordering Austria said Thursday.

Missing since Wednesday, the two men were both Alpine rescuers from the southern Austrian city of Villach close to the Slovenian and Austrian borders, the rescue service said on Facebook . Family members awaiting their return tried to reach them by phone but their calls went unanswered.

They were scaling the "Cima di Riofreddo," whose peak culminates at more than 2,500 meters, when they fell either because of a mistake or a possible rockslide.

Their bodies were dangling from their climbing ropes, still partially anchored to the mountainside, when they were found at an altitude of around 2,000 meters on Thursday morning, the rescuers added.

Initially it wasn't possible to reach the climbers due to safety reasons but early Thursday morning, a helicopter with rescuers on board were finally able to reach the two mountaineers, and their bodies were recovered, the rescue service said.

The climbers' deaths comes after other casualties in the region in recent months. In June, a professional skier and his girlfriend fell more than 2,000 feet to their deaths while mountain climbing in the Italian Alps. In January,  two Italian hikers were killed in an avalanche in the Alps close to the border between Italy and Switzerland, Reuters reported .

In 2022, a large chunk of Alpine glacier broke loose and slid down a mountainside in Italy, killing at least nine hikers .