LERIDA – Rescue teams were Tuesday bringing back the bodies of a French couple who died in an avalance during a mountain walk.

The couple were part of a group of 11 people who were walking in the Valle de Boi, a mountainous area near Lerida in Catalonia, in north-east Spain.

The two victims were killed when a surprise avalanche engulfed them as they were walking through the  Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes.

In the sudden snowfall, they fell from the hillside.

Other members of the group tried to resuscitate the two injured walkers but they died shortly afterwards.

The accident happened Monday but heavy snowfalls, high winds and the threat of more avalanches have prevented a rescue helicopter from retrieving their bodies.

It took rescue teams four hours to reach them by foot because of the bad weather.

The group of walkers had to spend the night in a hillside refuge.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

                                        Subject: Spanish news