Five Italians are among nine people to have died in Nepal’s mountains after a deadly wave of extreme weather hit the Himalayas, officials said on Tuesday, according to an AFP report.

The Italian foreign ministry had said early on Tuesday that Alessandro Caputo and Stefano Farronato, two Italian mountaineers who had been missing on the Panbari mountain in the Nepalese Himalayas for several days amid heavy snowfall, are dead.

The other three were reportedly among a group of 12 people hit by an avalanche at the Yalung Ri peak in Nepal’s Rolwaling Valley on Monday.

The foreign ministry said the death of Caputo and Farronato “was confirmed this morning by local authorities”.

“They had been out of contact since Friday, October 31, while they were climbing the Panbari Peak,” it continued.

“The (Italian) compatriots had been caught in heavy snowfall at Camp 1 (5,000m).

“Other compatriots are reported missing and the search is ongoing”.