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At least six people died and eight others were injured after an ice avalanche hit the Italian Alps on Sunday, local authorities said, as emergency workers searched Mount Marmolada for at least 19 missing hikers.
Italy’s National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps said five helicopters and dog teams were deployed to the area, but expressed concern that more snow, ice and rocks could fall.
Among the missing are 11 Italians, four Czechs, three Romanians and one French, local news agency ANSA reported on Monday.
On July 4, rescue operations continued in the Italian Alps after parts of a mountain glacier collapsed, killing at least six people and injuring eight. (Video: Reuters)
The landslide occurred during an early heat wave that saw temperatures rise to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit on Marmolada in recent days. The Rescue Corps said the heat was “abnormal”, the Guardian newspaper reported.
Experts have long warned that avalanches are becoming more common as global temperatures rise, saying warming could destabilize mountain climates and speed up the melting of glaciers.
“Fortunately the weather conditions are good, but the danger is that there could be more collapses,” a spokesman told Reuters, while Italian state television said rescuers saw dead people next to “huge chunks of ice”.
The glacier collapse happened near Punta Rocca, a route climbers use to reach the summit, Veneto regional governor Luca Zaia said, while the Alpine Rescue Service shared an emergency number people could call if their relatives have not returned from excursions in the area.
Amazing helicopter footage of the Base Squad mountain rescuer in Marmolada.
Water lubrication at the base (or between layers) and increased pressure in water-filled cracks are likely the main causes of this catastrophic event pic.twitter.com/2OXRExkdjy
— Alpine-Adriatic Meteorological Society (@aametsoc) July 3, 2022
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi offered his condolences and thanked emergency workers. Officials estimated Monday that up to 16 people may have been swept away in the collapse.
Marmolada, which rises to about 11,000 feet, is the highest peak in the eastern Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site estimated to be more than 200 million years old. Marmolada is called the “Queen of the Dolomites”, an area popular with nature and adventure lovers.
A report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this year outlined the devastating impacts of climate change, including irreversible loss of glaciers by the end of this century.
“Mountainous regions have always been affected by either too much or too little water,” the report said. “Due to climate change, hazards are changing rapidly and becoming even more unpredictable.”
The increased risk of such hazards forces populations in mountainous regions to move, leading to mass displacement in countries such as Thailand, Afghanistan and Peru.
Italian authorities said the injured were being treated at hospitals in the cities of Belluno, Treviso, Trento and Bolzano, Reuters reported.
Mountain glaciers may have less ice than estimated, straining fresh water supplies
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