Best friends on a skiing break to celebrate their 25 birthdays in just a few days have tragically died after being caught up in an avalanche in the Italian Alps.
The two young skiers, named as Theresia Jansson Palmer and Annika Frankendale, both 24, were students at the Lunds Teknisha Hoskola, the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University in Lund, Sweden, which specialises in industrial design and sports.
The two young women were reportedly caught up in an avalanche in the Spagnoli canal, above Courmayeur, in the Aosta Valley, in the Alps, in north-western Italy, on the border with France and Switzerland on Sunday, 19th March, at around 1pm.
They had been skiing with their unnamed boyfriends, who survived the tragic avalanche, according to local media.
The group had previously been based in Chamonix, on the French side of Mont Blanc.
On the day of their deaths, the group, all expert skiers, had reportedly gone to Courmayeur to head towards Val Veny.
One of the women was recovered from the snow by the two men but they were unable to revive her.
The other woman was only found the following day after search and rescue teams had to suspend their efforts to find her due to adverse weather conditions.
