Six people have been killed after a rescue helicopter crashed down in the central Italian mountains near a resort hit by Wednesday's deadly avalanche.

A loud explosion was heard as the helicopter, which was carrying an injured skier and five more people, came down in thick fog close to the Campo Felice ski station in Italy's Abruzzo region.

Images from the scene showed the helicopter smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact. Rescuers arrived on the scene to find six bodies lying in the snow.

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Six people have been killed after a rescue helicopter crashed down in central Italian mountains near a resort hit by Wednesday's deadly avalanche

A loud explosion was heard as the helicopter, which was carrying an injured skier and five more people, came down in thick fog close to the Campo Felice ski station in Italy's Abruzzo region

Rescuers arrived on the scene to find six bodies lying in the snow. The bodies have since been removed from the scene

Campo Felice, located at 2,330ft altitude but with pistes up to just over 6,000ft, is close to the epicentres of earthquakes that struck the region last week and were followed by the killer wall of snow.

Police said there was no apparent link between the crash and the seismic activity or the avalanche.

But it came as firefighters and mountain police grappled with their aftermath.

A team of first responders who had been helping the rescue effort at the Hotel Rigopiano was dispatched to the helicopter crash site but would not have been able to get there before news of the deaths came.

It is not yet known what caused the helicopter to come down.

Images from the scene showed the helicopter smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact

An emergency response helicopter has crashed in the mountains of central Italy close to the resort hit by a deadly avalanche, it has emerged. Emergency crews are pictured trying to reach the scene

The accident happened on the other side of Italy's Gran Sasso mountain range.

Italian media reported that the helicopter was heading back to a hospital in the provincial capital of L'Aquila after picking up the injured skier.

It comes as another blow to Central Italy's Abruzzo region, which has been slammed by a series of powerful earthquakes and yards of snowfall that triggered the January 18 avalanche.

The death toll from the avalanche climbed to 15 on Tuesday with the discovery of more bodies, leaving 14 people still unaccounted for.