Show caption The Mont-Blanc mountain and summit. Three bodies, roped together, have been found and believed to be from a 1995 disaster. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters Mountaineering Three bodies found on Mont Blanc after being hidden by glacier for decades The corpses, roped together, were discovered by a French climber, according to local authorities Agence France-Presse Wed 23 Aug 2017 21.35 EDT Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share via Email 3 years old

The bodies of three climbers suspected to have died more than two decades ago have been discovered on the Italian side of western Europe’s highest peak Mont Blanc, local police have said.

“The glacier is constantly shifting and we can say that the deaths occurred around 1995,” said a spokesman for the Alpine rescue police service in Italy’s northwestern Val d’Aoste region.

According to Italian media, the alarm was sounded by a French climber who discovered the bodies and took pictures of them.

Operations were under way to recover the bodies, which were linked together by rope.

In July, the bodies of a Swiss couple who disappeared 75 years ago after going to milk their cows were found frozen in a shrinking glacier above Chandolin in the Valais canton.

Mont Blanc, which straddles Italy’s northwest border with France, continues to claim victims among hikers and climbers.

There have been a series of fatal accidents on the mountain in the past month, with climbers from France, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Ukraine killed while trying to scale its heights.

The search for a missing Japanese climber was called off last week.