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VIENNA – Three climbers died after being struck by lightning while hiking in Austria’s Tyrol region at the weekend.
The victims were a married couple, both aged 60, and the wife’s 62-year-old brother, police said on Monday.
The three were ascending the 2,600-metre-high Mittagsspitze, in the far west of the country, on Sunday when sudden and severe weather changes forced them to turn back.
Concerned relatives alerted local authorities when the group failed to return to the valley.
An emergency helicopter crew located the three bodies near a marked trail at an elevation of around 2,300 metres.
Medical examiners later confirmed that all the three persons died from a lightning strike. (dpa/NAN)
