Two Italian and two South Korean climbers were found dead near the summit of Mont Blanc

PARIS – French rescue workers said Tuesday they had found the bodies of two Italian and two South Korean climbers near the summit of Mont Blanc on the French side after they disappeared in bad weather over the weekend.

The Chamonix-Mont Blanc search and rescue team found the two mountaineering couples at an altitude of 4,700 meters on the highest peak in the Alps. Rescue workers said they died of hypothermia.

The unaccompanied climbers had alerted the rescue services on Saturday afternoon, but the weather conditions deteriorated so rapidly that the rescue services could not reach their location either by ground or by helicopter.

Two more Korean climbers were successfully rescued from an altitude of 4,100 meters (more than 13,400 feet) on Sunday morning after rescue workers conducted an extremely complex operation.

The French authorities have launched an investigation.