ROME – Two mountain climbers, one Spanish and the other Polish, were found frozen to death on the Dome du Gouter mountain, in the Mont Blanc massif, at an altitude of 4,400 meters (14,300 feet) on the border between Italy and France.

The bodies of Spaniard Jose Manuel Perez Rodriguez and Pole Joanna Malgorazata Winchenciuk, both about 30, were found Saturday in French territory near the most-used route from the Gouter shelter to Mont Blanc.

An avalanche on Mont Blanc killed nine climbers – two Spaniards, three Germans, a Swiss citizen and three Britons – last Thursday.

The two mountaineers were part of a group of four climbers who had set out on Friday for the high slopes of the Dome du Gouter when they were surprised by a blizzard. Two of the group – both Spaniards – were able to get back down to the valley to report to authorities.

At present, the two surviving climbers are receiving treatment at the hospital in Aosta, where they were taken Sunday morning by helicopter, but their conditions are not thought to be serious.

Also taken to the hospital were four other Polish mountaineers who were caught in the same storm on Mont Blanc.

The two bodies were recovered Saturday about 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) by members of the mountain rescue team in Val d’Aosta, as well as Italian and French police authorities.

The bodies of the two climbers were taken to the Italian town of Courmayeur in the Val d’Aosta region, where there is a funeral parlor.