Six people from southern Russia were killed and two wounded after a snowmobile accident in the Italian Alps. Their vehicle tipped over and fell 100 meters down a steep ski slope.

Five of those who died and one of the survivors were tourists from southern Russia's Krasnodar; another survivor and one of the deceased both worked for a tourist company in Italy, RIA Novosti reported.

Russian diplomats have identified the four men and two women who died in the crash.

Those injured in the accident – Boris Yudin and driver Azat Agafarov – were taken to hospital by helicopter.

Yudin's 17-year-old son, who was not on the vehicle, lost his mother and sister in the accident.

The tourists were driving to their hotel from a restaurant located in the mountains at around 10:00pm local time, the vice consul at the Milan embassy told journalists.

In an initial account of the incident, the driver of the snowmobile lost control of the vehicle for unknown reasons, after which it plunged 100 meters down the Cermis Mountain in Trentino province.

The accident may have been caused by technical problems with the vehicle, or speeding on a dangerous section of road, the Russian consul in Milan, Aleksey Paramonov, said.

The Italian prosecutor's office may launch legal proceedings against the sled’s driver, who is currently in hospital. A probe has been formally opened into whether manslaughter charges should be filed.

“The first assessment of the dynamics of what happened there clearly point on the violation of safety rules," Trentino province President Alberto Pacher said. 

The sled-towing snowmobile was not meant to transport people. Only authorized employees – rescue teams and services staff – were allowed to use it on the ski slopes, the head of the local administration explained. 

The group allegedly requested and was denied permission to use the vehicle on the slope, Italian media reported.

Rescue workers wait during the rescue operations to recover the bodies of six Russian tourists who died on the Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme, northern Italy January 5, 2013. (Reuters / Alessandro Garofalo)

Rescue workers wait during the rescue operations to recover the bodies of six Russian tourists who died on the Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme, northern Italy January 5, 2013. (Reuters / Alessandro Garofalo)

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