An avalanche in Italy’s Dolomite mountains has killed five German climbers, including a 17-year-old girl and her father, according to rescuers.

The mountaineers, travelling in separate groups, were scaling Cima Vertana in the Ortler Alps at around 16:00 local time on Saturday when the fast-moving snow hit.

A group of three people “was fully swept away by the avalanche” and all died, said Italy’s Alpine rescue service, Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico.

Separately, the father and daughter were carried away by the avalanche and their bodies were recovered on Sunday. Two other climbers in a third party survived.

The alarm was raised by the survivors, triggering the rescue operation.

Olaf Reinstadler, a spokesperson for the Sulden Mountain Rescue Service, told German media that the avalanche on the 3,545-metre (11,630ft) mountain, also called Vertainspitze, could have been caused by recent snow drifts which had not bonded to the ice below.

He said climbing tours were popular and the weather conditions were good, but wondered why the mountaineers were climbing late in the afternoon, as the descent would have then taken until nightfall.

The bodies of the three people climbing together were recovered on Saturday before rescue efforts were suspended due to fading light and safety conditions.

The Alpine rescue service said that due to fog and low visibility, helicopters could not take off at first light on Sunday.

However, once conditions improved, rescuers and avalanche dog units were airlifted to 2,600 meters before setting out on foot.

By late morning, the bodies of the two missing mountaineers – the father and daughter – were found.

A 60-day cruise around Australia has been cancelled days after the death of an elderly female passenger who was left behind by the ship on a remote island.

Suzanne Rees had been hiking on Lizard Island with fellow passengers from the Coral Adventurer, but broke off from the group for a rest. The ship left without her and returned several hours later after the crew realised the woman was missing.

A major search operation found her body the following day.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) is investigating the incident, alongside Queensland Police and the state coroner.

The CEO of the cruise operator Coral Expeditions, Mark Fifield, said on Saturday that passengers and crew on the Coral Adventurer were told on Wednesday that the remainder of the voyage had been cancelled due to the “tragic passing of Suzanne Rees and previous mechanical issues”.

He added in a statement that passengers would be issued a full refund, and said Coral Expeditions was working “to co-ordinate the return journeys of the passengers via chartered flights”.

Amsa also released an updated statement on Saturday, saying it had “issued a notice to the Master of Coral Adventurer” prohibiting any new passengers from boarding the ship.

The spokesperson said that officials would attend the vessel in Cairns upon its return.

The ship initially left the north-western city on 24 October, and was just two days into the voyage at the time of the 80-year-old’s death. Lizard Island was the first stop on the journey.

Passengers aboard – who typically pay tens of thousands of dollars to join the cruise – were transported there for a day trip with the option of hiking or snorkelling.

Suzanne Rees’ daughter, Katherine Rees, said on Thursday that her family was “shocked and saddened that the Coral Adventurer left Lizard Island after an organised excursion without my mum”.

She described her mother as an “active 80-year-old” who was a member of a bushwalking group.

“From the little we have been told, it seems that there was a failure of care and common sense.”

Ms Rees added that she hoped the coroner’s inquiry would be able to pinpoint what “the company should have done that might have saved mum’s life”.

“We understand from the police that it was a very hot day, and mum fell ill on the hill climb,” she said.

“She was asked to head down, unescorted. Then the ship left, apparently without doing a passenger count.

“At some stage in that sequence, or shortly after, mum died, alone.”

Earlier this week, Mr Fifield confirmed that Coral Expeditions was “working closely with Queensland Police and other authorities to support their investigation”.

He said that the company was “deeply sorry that this has occurred” and had offered its full support to the Rees family.

• Investigation after woman left behind by cruise ship dies on island
  • Published2 days ago

The Coral Adventurer caters for up to 120 guests with 46 crew, according to the company’s website. It was purpose-built to access remote areas of Australia’s coast and is equipped with “tenders” – small boats used to take passengers on day excursions.

Incidents like this are rare, and cruise ships have systems to record which passengers are embarking or disembarking, Harriet Mallinson, cruise editor of travel website Sailawaze, told the BBC.

“Sneaking ashore or [back] on board just isn’t an option,” she said.

Cruise lines take these procedures very seriously and have “clever tech in place to prevent such incidents from happening”, Ms Mallinson added.

“This is most likely a shocking – and tragic – one-off.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the defence of Pokrovsk is a “priority”, as elite special forces were deployed to the embattled town on the eastern front line.

Ukrainian army sources told the BBC that special forces from military intelligence and assault groups were being used as regular infantry to protect supply lines to troops holding the town in the Donbas region.

There have been growing reports of Russian advances around the strategic town to the west of Donetsk. Ukraine has denied claims their forces were surrounded.

Moscow wants Kyiv to cede the entire Donbas region as part of a peace deal, including the parts it currently does not control.

Russia currently controls around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014.

The deployment of special forces suggests officials in Kyiv are determined to try to hold on to the town, which Russia has been trying to seize for more than a year.

Local media say the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, was in the region to personally oversee the operation.

Pokrovsk is a key transport and supply hub whose capture could unlock Russian efforts to seize the rest of the region.

But Kyiv also believes its capture would help Russia in its efforts to persuade the US that its military campaign is succeeding – and, therefore, that the West should acquiesce to its demands.

Washington has grown increasingly frustrated with the Kremlin’s failure to move forward with peace negotiations – culminating in US President Donald Trump placing sanctions on two largest Russian oil producers and axing plans for a summit with President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky has indicated he is open to Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire that would freeze the war along the current front lines. Russia has publicly insisted Ukrainian troops leave the remainder of the Donbas.

In his nightly address, the Ukrainian president said: “Pokrovsk is our priority. We continue to destroy the occupier, and that is what matters most… They must be halted where they have reached – and destroyed there.”

Images shared with news agencies appear to show a Ukrainian Black Hawk helicopter deploying about 10 troops near Pokrovsk, although the location and date could not be verified.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had thwarted the deployment of Ukrainian military intelligence special forces north-west of the town, killing all 11 troops who landed by helicopter.

DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source monitoring group, estimates about half of Pokrovsk is a so-called “grey zone” where neither side is in full control.

A military source in Donetsk told the BBC that Ukrainian forces were not surrounded but their supply lines were under fire from Russian troops.

“The situation in the city has changed so much that [Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Gen Oleksandr] Syrsky is now sending elite units into the city to stabilise it,” he said.

These included special forces and assault units in Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence agency (GUR), he said.

“Fighting is now taking place for the railway station and the industrial zone in the west. The battles for the industrial zone have almost reduced logistics from roughly vehicle-based to foot-based.

“The Ukrainian Armed Forces are not in a physical encirclement, but in an operational one – this means that all logistics are under fire control.”

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces had “marginally advanced” during recent counter-attacks north of Pokrovsk, but said the town was “mainly a contested ‘grey zone'”.