Two French climbers found dead in Alps

Two young climbers were found dead at the base of a climb known as “The Mafia” in the French Alps on Monday, local officials said.

The bodies of the two men, aged 24 and 26, were discovered at the bottom of the route on the south face of Mount Rouies in the Massif des Ecrins, authorities said.

No one saw the accident itself, said the local prosecutor’s office.

“The Mafia” is a climb that rises 1,200 vertical metres (4,000 feet) and requires a “certain level of skill,” a local police officer said.

In July last year, two students from Grenoble aged 19 and 22 were killed after plunging 500 metres on the same route.

Last Thursday, nine climbers were killed in an avalanche on Mont Maudit — or Cursed Mountain — in the Mont Blanc massif.