A three-man mountain rescue team plunged 100 feet to their death when one fell from a cliff face dragging the other two with him on the rope during a training exercise in Italy.

The climbers had been roped together for the practice drill near ​​Val Masino, Lombardy, on 29th May, on the notoriously difficult Asteroid Precipice.

Local media named the climbers as Simone Giacomelli, 22, Alessandro Pozzi, 25, and 32-year-old dad Luca Piani, who has a three-year-old child.

Accident investigators believe that a loose rock broke away under the feet of one of the climbers, who fell instantly, pulling the other two down the precipice with him.

Medics were rushed to the cliff face but could only declare the climbers dead from multiple injuries.

All three were officers in Italy’s Financial Guard police, the Yellow Flames, which investigates money laundering, Mafia activities and modern slavery.