Grenoble - Europe's highest mountain range claimed the lives of 10 mountaineers this weekend, bringing the death toll from climbing accidents in the Alps in recent days to more than 30, officials said yesterday. Mountaineering experts said the recent spate of accidents in the Alps, whose peaks sweep across France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia, was due to unseasonal weather which had shortened the climbing season.
However, a member of the mountain rescue police, Capt Henri Portet, said the death toll was no higher than most years. - (AFP)