Bodies found under two metres of snow after avalanche in resort of Courmayeur

The bodies of four skiers who went missing after an avalanche in the Italian ski resort of Courmayeur have been found.

They were discovered on Monday under two metres of snow in Val Veny, to the south of Courmayeur in the Aosta valley region bordering France.

The skiers were identified by Italian rescuers as Matthew Ziegler, 43, a British national with a Swiss passport, Katherine Clarke, 39, born in New Zealand and living in London, Nicolas Bruno Vergez, 36, French, and Wespazjan Wisla, 38, a Pole living in France. The four had been missing since about midday on Sunday.

The alarm was raised by friends of the two UK residents, who were reportedly on the final day of their ski trip after they failed to arrive at a meeting point. The four skiers had gone off-piste, according to Italian news reports. Rescue operations were made more difficult on Sunday due to the height of the avalanche, preventing rescuers from undertaking the search by foot, and the risk of another.

In total, eight people were killed by avalanches in Italy over the weekend. Earlier on Sunday, two bodies were found in Aosta, while another skier died in the Lombardy region and an 18-year-old was killed in South Tyrol.

The regional authority in Aosta, where the avalanche risk is very high – at level 3 out of 5 – warned people in the mountains to heed weather warnings. “The conditions are very different depending on the areas; the most critical are in the north and north-west of the region,” it said.

In January, seven people were killed when a tourist plane and helicopter collided in midair over the Rutor glacier in Aosta. The victims were from Italy, Germany, France and Belgium.

On Saturday, drivers were stuck for hours on a highway that leads into Austria after heavy snow caused a 7.5-mile traffic jam.