An avalanche caused by the detachment of part of the Marmolada glacier, the largest in the Dolomites mountain range in the Italian Alps, caused at least six deaths and left eight people injured on Sunday (3).
Emergency services spokeswoman Michela Canova said eight people were injured, but the balance was “still provisional”.
Two of the injured were transferred to Belluno hospital, another to Treviso and five to Trento, the spokeswoman said, without providing further details on the victims’ nationality.
Several helicopters participate in the rescue and monitoring operations, as the detachment occurred one day after the temperature record at the top of the glacier, 10ºC.
According to Renato Colucci, an expert on glaciers cited by the Italian agency AGI, the phenomenon “will repeat itself”, since “for weeks, temperatures in the heights of the Alps have been well above the usual indicators”.
According to a spokeswoman for the emergency services, “an avalanche of snow, ice and rock hit the access road when several groups of climbers were there, some of whom were swept away”. “The number of climbers affected is still unknown,” she added.
The civil protection department of the Veneto region in northeastern Italy said that “all protection teams in the area have been mobilized”.
The place where a part of the glacier broke is near Punta Roca, on the path that is usually used to reach the top.
“Extreme Heat”
Images taken from a nearby shelter show how snow and rock begin to fall from the mountain. Other images recorded the avalanche dragging everything in its path.
Helicopters helped transport the victims across the valley to the town of Canazei, not far from where the cable car to the top of the glacier leaves.
The rescuers’ work was especially difficult as they had to extract the bodies from ice and rocks.
A group of psychologists was called in to help the victims’ families.
According to scientist Renato Colucci, “the extreme heat of the last few days probably produced a large amount of liquid water from the melting of the glacier and accumulated at the base of the block”, which later collapsed for lack of support.
The Marmolada glacier is the largest glacier in the Dolomites, in the eastern Alps. Located in the province of Trento, it rises from the Avisio River and overlooks Lake Fedaia.
According to an IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report released on March 1, melting snow ice is one of the top ten threats from global warming, which will disrupt ecosystems and threaten some infrastructure.
According to the IPCC, glaciers in Scandinavian countries, Central Europe and the Caucasus could lose between 60% and 80% of their mass by the end of the century.
