Kenya ? Three American mountain climbers were killed and another seriously wounded in a rock slide on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, an official said on Thursday.

The dead were crushed as they slept in their tents Wednesday when rocks and boulders were dislodged by a strong gust of wind. They had been hiking on the western slope of the mountain at 16,000 feet, said James Wakibara, the acting chief warden of Kilimanjaro National Park. Two of the hikers were found alive but did not survive a flight to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, for treatment, Wakibara said.

Tanzania’s regional police commander, Mohamed Chico, identified the dead as Kristian Ferguson, 27, of Longmont, Colo.; Mary Lou Sammis, 58, of Huntington, N.Y., and Betty Orrik Sapp, 63, of Tennessee.

Five other people were seriously injured, among them one American and four Tanzanians.