EISPIRATEN

An Italian minister today said he was "fed up" with mountain rescuers losing their lives trying to save people who were the victims of their own imprudence.

Guido Bertolaso, the junior minister for civil protection in Silvio Berlsconi's conservative government, was speaking after four Alpine rescuers were swept to their deaths in the Dolomites on 26 December. They were among seven people whose bodies were being recovered from the central Italian Alps after a string of deadly avalanches.

Across the border in Switzerland, one person was missing after being hit by another snow slide in Anzere.

A German boy who was hit by an avalanche while snow-boarding off-piste, was today fighting for his life in a hospital in Bolzano in northern Italy.

Bertolaso pointed a finger at those "who fail to pay attention to the alarms and appeals of the authorities". He added: "Enough is enough of dying because of the mistakes of others."

The four rescuers died in the Val Lasties area, east of Bolzano. They were members of a party of seven expert mountaineers who had climbed to 2,000m in search of two Italian tourists who had ventured into the area on snow shoes andbeen struck by the first in the series of avalanches.

The rescue team, made up of Alpine guides and instructors, reached a mountain refuge on Saturday night. From there, the seven men set off in the dark, lighting their path with lamps fixed to their helmets.

As they were descending the snow above them broke loose and roared down the mountain, burying all but one. The man who was not hit raised the alarm.

The bodies of the two tourists were located today by a much bigger expedition consisting of tracker dogs and 40 rescuers including member of the fire brigade and the paramilitary Carabinieri.

Warnings had been given of the avalanche risk, caused by the formation of layers of angular crystals in the snow. The danger in the area today was put at four on a scale of one to five.

In the mountains west of Bolzano, meanwhile, a third avalanche struck three young Germans. after they left the ski runs near Malga Madriccio to take a well-trodden short-cut across the slopes above 3,000 metres. Rescue efforts were delayed by the fact that none of three was carrying a beacon or other location-indicating device.

A 12-year-old boy was found dead below the snow. His older brother survived unharmed. Their friend was said to be badly injured.