A third climber has died after an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands that killed two people on Thursday, police said on Friday.

Scottish police said the man had died of his injuries after the avalanche in the Cairngorms killed another man and a woman on Thursday. The area is popular with hill walkers and is home to three of Scotland's five ski resorts.

"This is another stark and tragic reminder of the dangers on our mountains," said Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, head of the devolved government.

"They are one of the most beautiful places on Earth but they can also be inherently dangerous with treacherous and changeable conditions."

It was the third serious avalanche to hit the Scottish mountains this year.

Four climbers were killed in an avalanche near the west coast in January.

In the Cairngorms, a hillwalker died earlier this week, while three men survived a 150-metre (500-foot) fall in the mountain range's Coire an t-Sneachda area earlier this month.