CHAMONIX, France (AP) — The bodies of eight climbers swept up in an avalanche near Mont Blanc were located Monday, buried beneath 20 to 50 meters (65-164 feet) of ice, police officials said.
Regis Lavergne, commander of the High Mountain Gendarmes based in Chamonix, said a helicopter picked up the signal of special homing devices the climbers were wearing. It appeared from the signals that the climbers — four Germans, three Swiss and one Austrian — had fallen into a deep crevasse.
Because the area is prone to avalanches, rescuers will not attempt to recover the bodies, which are expected to resurface in “a few weeks or several years” due to the movement or melting of the glaciers, Lavergne told reporters at a news conference.
Rescuers had initially said the missing climbers were Swiss and Austrian nationals, but officials later said they included four Germans, who were climbing with an Austrian guide.
The names of the victims have not been made public.
Seven people hospitalized following the avalanche were discharged on Monday, officials said.
The avalanche began around 3 a.m. Sunday after a block of ice as wide as two football fields cracked off a side of the Mont Blanc du Tacul, one of the peaks in the Mont Blanc range, at an altitude of some 3,600 meters (11,800 feet).
During a visit to the region Sunday, French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said there was no hope of finding any of the climbers alive.
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