Authorities said they did not know how many climbers were hit when the glacier retreated Sunday on Marmolada, the highest mountain in the Italian Dolomites. Its collapse sent ice and rock thundering down the hillside at 185 miles per hour, according to Trento provincial chief Maurizio Fugati. On Monday, rescuers armed with thermal drones searched for body heat from potential survivors trapped in the ice. But the chances of finding more survivors now “are slim” because too much time has probably passed since the deadly avalanche, head of the regional Alpine rescue service Giorgio Gadger said in comments to the AGI news agency. Rescuer Gino Comelli, who spoke at the outlet after six bodies were recovered from the mountain, said those found were “torn apart” as a result of the tragedy. The death toll rose as search and rescue missions continued in Marmolada on Monday. Fugati confirmed seven deaths by late afternoon, according to AGI, while eight people were injured and at least 14 others were missing. According to information, two of the injured hikers were in critical condition and only three of the dead could be immediately identified. It was not yet clear exactly how many people were caught in the avalanche as reports of missing persons continued to pour in throughout the day. The disaster struck a day after a record temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded at the top of the glacier, which is the largest in the Italian Alps. The glacier had been weakened by decades of global warming, experts said. Alpine Rescue spokeswoman Michela Canova told AFP that an “avalanche of snow, ice and rock” fell on an access path at the time when there were several rope parties, “some of whom were swept away”. Marmalade of Italy. Giovanni Mereghetti / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images A spokesman for the province of Trento said people were still missing. Trento’s public prosecutor, Sandro Raimondi, was quoted by Corriere della Sera as saying he feared the death toll “could double if not triple”, based on the number of cars left unattended in a car park near the mountain. . But Canova urged caution, saying the total number of climbers involved “is not yet known.” At that time, eight people had reportedly recovered with injuries. Bodies pulled from the ice and rock were taken to the village of Canazei, where Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi traveled to address the avalanche on Monday. Helicopters and sniffer dogs were withdrawn as night fell and amid fears the glacier may still be unstable. “It’s difficult for rescuers in a dangerous situation,” Canazei Mayor Giovanni Bernard told AFP. Images of the avalanche taken from a nearby shelter show snow and rocks cascading down the mountainside. “It’s a miracle we’re alive,” Stefano Dal Moro, an engineer who hiked with his Israeli partner, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. “There was a dull noise, then this sea of ice came down. It’s useless to run, you can only pray it doesn’t come your way. We bent down and hugged each other tightly as the ice passed.” Massimo Frezzotti, a science professor at Roma Tre University, told AFP the collapse was caused by unusually warm weather linked to global warming, with rainfall falling by 40-50% during a dry winter. “Today’s glacier conditions correspond to mid-August, not early July,” he said. Glacier expert Renato Colucci told AGI that the phenomenon “is inevitable to happen again” because “for weeks high altitude temperatures in the Alps have been well beyond normal values”. Recent high temperatures had created a large amount of water from the melting glacier that accumulated at the bottom of the ice block and caused it to collapse, he added. The Prosecutor’s Office of Trento has launched an investigation to ascertain the causes of the tragedy. The IPCC said glaciers in Scandinavia, central Europe and the Caucasus could lose between 60 and 80% of their mass by the end of the century.
