Helicopters and a police rescue team with sniffer dogs searched the mountainside after the avalanche occurred in an off-piste area.

'After being buried by the avalanche, two people died during attempts to revive them,' the government's local representative in the Aragon region said in a statement.

The first skier had been found 45 minutes after the avalanche and the second 20 minutes later. Rescuers later found the body of the third skier.

Police ruled out that any more skiers might be trapped.

An avalanche warning had earlier been issued for off-piste areas at the Formigal ski centre, where heavy snow in recent days has closed some runs, the ski centre said on its website.

The incident came at a time when Spanish resorts are usually packed ahead of a holiday weekend just after New Year. -- REUTERS