Three Spanish climbers, guide, perish on Peru mountain

Three Spanish mountaineers died with their Peruvian guide while climbing a snow-capped peak in the Andes, Peruvian authorities reported Monday.

The five-member party was attempting to scale the 5,150 meter (16,892-foot) Nevado Mateo mountain in the Andean Cordillera Blanca range when they were swept away on Sunday, authorities in the Ancash region said.

The alarm was raised by another Spanish climber, the only member of the party to survive.

"Apparently it was due to weather effects, probably an ice-fall," Marcos Espinal, a prosecutor in the local town of Carhauz, told RPP radio.

A mountain rescue team had been dispatched to recover the bodies of the four climbers, Espinal said.

The lower reaches of the mountain give way to a glacier on the climb, which usually takes around five hours.

"It is a rugged area, and risky because of the weather conditions," like fog and rain, he said.

A German climber died on the mountain in 2016.