THESSALONIKI — Two Greek doctors who worked in ICU wards for COVID-19 have died in an avalanche on Mount Olympus, authorities said. 

The doctors, not identified by name, died Thursday while on a climbing trip on the slopes of Greece's highest mountain. A third man who had joined them was unharmed and alerted rescuers in the nearby city of Larissa, the Fire Service said. 

Rescuers, lowered by ropes from a helicopter, were joined later by members of a larger search team and found the bodies of the two men, aged 47 and 52. 

"They were front line staff members who saved many lives," Gregoris Vlachakis, director of Larissa General Hospital, where the two doctors worked, told The Associated Press. "They both worked in the ICU and loved climbing and skiing in their spare time."