16 MAR 2017: Four mountain climbers have been killed in an avalanche in the Austrian Alps. Police, says the climbers were part of an eight-person ski touring group when the avalanche hit at about 12:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

The Austria Press Agency says four people in the group were able to free themselves from the snow on their own and alerted rescue crews.

The avalanche came on the 2,450-meter-high (8,050-foot) Jochgrubenkopf mountain, southeast of Innsbruck, and measured about 700-meters (2,300-feet) -long with the snow depth reaching 12 metres (40 feet.)