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A rescue helicopter over a glacier
Photo: PIERRE TEYSSOT / AFP
A week after the devastating glacier in the Dolomites, the two injured Germans left the hospital.
While the eleventh and last missing climber was found on the Marmolada in northern Italy and was found dead, a 67-year-old man was allowed to be picked up by relatives on Saturday and taken back to Germany.
A day later, a 58-year-old woman was also released from a clinic in the city of Belluno, as announced by the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia.
He also published a picture of the woman sitting in a wheelchair.
She couldn't remember the incident herself, the woman wrote in a letter to the clinic staff, which the German Press Agency was able to see.
Her condition improved "very slowly but steadily".
She thanked all the helpers who had tried very hard.
"I appreciate it very much."
Minute of silence and funeral service
The German man was seen in a photo from the clinic with bandaged arms and hands and bruises on his forehead and legs.
Next to a doctor, he appears to be smiling behind a mask.
Last Sunday, a massive chunk broke off the glacier on the north side of the Marmolada and fell into the valley together with water and debris at a speed of 300 km/h.
He caught the alpinists who were on the normal route and swept some of them away.
According to experts, the high temperatures of the past few days and weeks, which are likely to be related to climate change, were one of the reasons for the accident.
more on the subject
Glaciologist on glacial collapse: "We've never seen it like this" An interview by Christoph Seidler
Glacier break-off in the Dolomites: "This is an absolute anomaly"
On Saturday evening, a funeral service was held in the parish church of Canazei below the mountain of misfortune, and relatives and helpers were also present.
Earlier, at 6 p.m., sirens wailed in the valley for a minute's silence.
"The ice snatched the lives of women and men who did not know each other, with different biographies, from different places," said Archbishop Lauro Tisi at the mass.
"But now the pain of all those who weep for her is identical."
The dead are six men and three women from Italy and two Czech climbers.
The youngest victim was 22 years old.
Eight people were injured, including the two Germans.
The emergency services assume that there are no other victims.
Nevertheless, the body parts or personal material of the known victims are still being searched for on the mountain massif, said Maurizio Fugatti, the regional president of Trentino-South Tyrol.
The dead, who had been laid out in the ice rink of Canazei below the Marmolada, were soon to be handed over to their families.
mar/dpa