Three British climbers die in Spanish snowstorm

MADRID, Mar 6 (Reuters) Three British climbers were found dead in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains today, police said, a day after one of the group battled blizzards and freezing temperatures to raise the alarm.

A police spokesman said the three died of hypothermia after a snowstorm battered the mountains east of Granada, in the southern region of Andalucia.

The son of one of the group left the climbers sheltering in a snow hole and went to raise the alarm on Sunday, newspaper El Pais said on its website.

A police spokesman described the climbing expedition as ''reckless''.

''Three Britons died in Mulhacen, Sierra Nevada. They are being transferred by helicopter to the civil guard's base in Granada,'' he told Reuters.

''They died of hypothermia. It seems they were not prepared.'' El Pais reported that the group were not adequately dressed.

REUTERS CH KP2100