Three hikers killed by lightning strike in Austrian Alps

(Reuters) -Three hikers, including two brothers and the wife of one of the men, were killed by a lightning strike during a thunderstorm in Austria's Tyrolean Alps over the weekend, police said on Monday.

A spokesperson for Alpine police in the western town of Landeck said it was likely the couple, both 60, and the 62-year-old brother, died from the same lightning strike.

Police said the rare incident occurred on Sunday afternoon as the trio were descending the Mittagsspitze mountain near the village of Flirsch, and that a rescue helicopter found their bodies near a path at an altitude of around 2,268 metres (7,440 feet).

(Reporting by Marleen KaesebierEditing by Bernadette Baum)

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