Vienna - Four mountaineers missing after an avalanche on the Mont Blanc massif in France are possibly Germans, an Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.

French authorities presume that eight alpinists were killed by an ice avalanche on Mont Blanc du Tacul on Sunday. Three have been identified as Swiss, and one as Austrian mountain guide Stefan E.

Four more missing mountaineers were initially believed to be Austrians, but they were probably Germans, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, spokesman of the Austrian foreign ministry, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

Authorities in Chamonix were expected to confirm their identities later on Monday, the spokesman said. (dpa)