MILAN, Italy – A Dutch man, his son and two daughters fell to their deaths Thursday while climbing near Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak, Italian rescuers said.

The climbers, connected by rope, plunged 1,600 feet down a slope of rock, ice and snow while the children's mother watched from below, said Oscar Tajola, head of the mountain rescue corps in the nearby town of Courmayeur.

“We had to take her to hospital because she was in shock,” Tajola said by telephone. “We think one of them slipped and pulled the others down.”

The woman was later released from hospital and identified the bodies in Courmayeur. The children ranged in age from 14 to 20, Tajola said.

The family was climbing the 12,500-foot Mont Dolent, which is part of the Mont Blanc massif. The 15,780-foot Mont Blanc straddles Italy and France and attracts hundreds of climbers a year. Dozens of them die on the massif each year.