In the Italian Alps, a large piece of a glacier breaks off and falls down the valley. First, seven climbers are found dead, five people are missing. Now emergency services are finding more bodies in the rough terrain.
Rescue workers have found more bodies of trapped mountaineers in the northern Italian Dolomites. It is believed that it is hikers from the same rope team who were swept away by the masses of boulders, ice and snow over the weekend, according to the Autonomous Province of Trento. The authorities have not yet released any further details.
At least seven people died when the glacier broke off on Sunday afternoon, and a total of eight were injured, including two Germans. The authorities are still looking for five Italians. Whether the finds belong to it is still unclear. From Thursday, firefighters, police officers and mountain rescuers with search dogs should go back to the Marmolada area.
In the morning, the emergency services initially only continued the search with drones that flew over the area because there was a risk that ice and debris could come loose again. Experts also set up three monitoring devices to detect movements of the glacier masses. They should ensure the safety of the salvage operations in the area currently closed to search.
Experts, mountain connoisseurs as well as the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Head of State Sergio Mattarella see the consequences of climate change as the reason for the glacier break-off. For years, the glacier ice in the Alps has been melting away due to the rise in temperatures. In the days leading up to the accident, it was also unusually warm in the Marmolada area and, like in many other parts of Italy, there was a lack of rainfall. As a result, according to South Tyrolean extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner, the glaciers are becoming increasingly unstable.
