Two Italian climbers were killed in an accident on the Mt Rosa massif in the Alps Thursday.

The pair, a man and a woman, died following an accident on Castore peak.

The bodies were recovered in the early afternoon by the Valle d'Aosta Mountain Rescue.

The alarm was raised this morning following a failure to contact the climbers, who had spent the night at the Quintino Sella refuge.

They were located during a helicopter overflight.