It was not immediately clear how many hikers were in the area or if any were missing, said Walter Milan, a spokesman for the national Alpine rescue corps who gave the toll on the dead and injured. Rescuers were checking license plates in the parking lot as part of checks to determine how many people might be missing, a process that could take hours, Milan said by phone. “We saw dead (people) and huge pieces of ice, rock,” exhausted rescuer Luigi Felicetti told Italian state television. The nationalities or ages of the dead were not immediately available, Milan said. Of the eight survivors who were treated, two were in serious condition, emergency services said. This image, released on Sunday by Italy’s National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps, shows the glacier in the Italian Alps. Rescuers say a large chunk of the glacier broke off, sending snow and rocks at the hikers. (Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico/The Associated Press) The fast-moving avalanche “came down with a roar that could be heard from a great distance,” local online media website ildolomiti.it reported. Earlier, the National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps tweeted that at least five helicopters and rescue dogs were involved in the search of the involved area of Marmolada Peak. But Milan said some on the slope may be able to get down on their own, including using the summit cable car. The injured were airlifted to several hospitals in the Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto regions, according to rescue services. The SUEM dispatch service, which is based in the nearby Veneto region, said the avalanche consisted of a “pour of snow, ice and rock”. The detached portion is known as the serrac, or top of the ice. SUEM said 18 people who were above the area where the ice hit would be evacuated by the Alpine Rescue Corps.
“The heat is unusual”
Marmolada, rising to around 3,300 meters, is the highest peak in the eastern Dolomites. The Alpine Rescue Service said in a tweet that the section was interrupted near Punta Rocca (Rock Point), “along the route normally used to reach the summit”. Rescue crews used helicopters and dogs to search for hikers caught in the glacier collapse on Sunday. This screenshot, taken from footage released by rescuers, shows a view of the glacier. (Alpine Mountain Rescue/Reuters) “The temperatures of these days clearly had an influence” on the partial collapse of the glacier, Maurizio Fugatti, president of the province of Trento, which borders Marmolada, told Sky TG24. However, Milan stressed that the high heat, which has soared unusually above 10 degrees Celsius at the top of the Marmolada in recent days, was only one possible factor in Sunday’s tragedy. “There are so many factors that could be involved,” Milan said. Avalanches are generally unpredictable, he said, and the effect of heat on a glacier “is even more impossible to predict.” In separate comments on Italian state television, Milan called the recent temperatures “extremely hot” for the summit. “It’s clearly something out of the ordinary.”
