ROME (AFP) - An avalanche on Saturday (Dec 28) killed a 35-year-old woman and two girls, one of them aged seven, in the Italian Alps near the border with Austria, media reported.

All three victims were German nationals.

The accident happened 2,400m up on the Val Senales glacier at around midday, said Italian media reports.

A team of 70 rescue workers, backed up by three helicopters, recovered the bodies.

The 35-year-old woman and the seven-year-old girl could not be resuscitated and the third victim died while being flown to hospital for treatment.

Another two people, thought to be members of the same skiing party, were injured in the avalanche, but their lives were not in danger, said the reports.