All six people on board a helicopter have died in a mountainside crash just days after a tragic avalanche in the same Italian region of Abruzzo.

Medical workers and a flight crew had been rescuing an injured skier when it crashed into the ground in the snow-covered Apennine Mountains.

Bodies were removed from the scene in sleds down to waiting vehicles.

Images showed the helicopter smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact.

Poor visibility had slowed the arrival of rescuers, and eyewitnesses said heavy clouds blanketed the area at the time of the crash.

An official with the carabinieri forestry police in the regional capital of L'Aquila confirmed all six people aboard were killed.

Italy's civil protection agency spokesman Luigi D'Angelo said the helicopter had been taking the injured skier from the Campo Felice ski area to L'Aquila.

The mayor of nearby Lucoli, Gianluca Marrocchi, said he had seen the helicopter and wondered why it was flying so low.

"After that it disappeared in the fog," he told RAI state TV.

Emergency crews have been working round the clock in the same region to recover victims of the January 18 avalanche which crushed a hotel, killing several people.