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Death toll from Italian Alps avalanches rises to 4

Click to play video: 'Rescue crews search for possible missing people after avalanche in Italian Alps'
Rescue crews search for possible missing people after avalanche in Italian Alps
WATCH: Rescue crews search for possible missing people after avalanche in Italian Alps – Dec 29, 2019

An avalanche has killed a skier in the Dolomite Mountains, the fourth avalanche fatality in the Italian Alps in 24 hours.

Italian state TV said the skier was among four people struck by the avalanche near a mountain refuge Sunday morning.

Emergency services at the scene after an avalanche in Val Senales, South Tyrol, northeast Italy, 28 December 2019 (issued 29 December 2019). Three people thought to be German, a woman and two seven-year-old girls, have died in an avalanche while skiing in Val Senales on 28 December. EPA/STRINGER

A day earlier, a wall of snow crashed into a group of German skiers in the Senales valley of Bolzano province, killing two 7-year-old girls and the mother of one of them. Prosecutors say they are investigating whether that slope should have been closed to the public that day, given a high risk of avalanches.

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Strong winds have raised the danger of avalanches in Italian Alpine ski areas, which are crowded with vacationers during the holidays.

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