Three victims of a deadly avalanche in southeastern British Columbia have been identified as German citizens.

The German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur says the mayor of the municipality of Eging, east of Munich, has confirmed the three men were from Germany and two were residents of his small Bavarian town.

Mayor Walter Bauer told the news agency that the other man was from Munich.

RCMP say nine foreign visitors and their Canadian guide were engulfed by the avalanche Wednesday.

Police have not released the nationalities or hometowns of the six visitors who survived.

Avalanche Canada has warned about an extremely unstable snowpack across most of B.C. this season.

It described the avalanche as a class 3, meaning it was large enough to destroy a building and break trees.