An avalanche on Mount Gongga in southwest China's Sichuan Province left three American mountain climbers missing and presumed dead, a Chinese official said on Sunday.

The body of one of the missing climbers has been found and rescue workers are searching for the other two, Chinese Mountaineering Assocation official Li Zhixin said.

They have been identified as Copp Jonaphan, Dash Micah, Johnson Wade.

Mount Gongga is 7,556 meters above the sea level.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2009)