Dead and injured after glacier collapse in the Dolomites - "We knew something bad had happened"
Created: 07/03/2022, 19:27
This is what it looks like at the glacier fracture in the Dolomites.
© Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico/dpa
In the Dolomites, a large piece of a glacier breaks off and falls towards the valley.
Several climbers are hit by the masses of ice, snow and debris, and at least five people die.
Bolzano – At least six people were killed and eight others injured, some seriously, in a massive glacier break in northern Italy.
This was announced by the rescue control center of the Veneto region after the accident on Sunday.
In the afternoon, five helicopters and several dog teams, among other things, were used to search for other climbers under the ice, snow and rock masses.
Nothing was initially known about the nationality of the victims.
Glacier break in Italy: 18 people had to be rescued over the broken area
A large chunk of glacier had detached itself from the Marmolada mountain massif and had fallen down into the valley.
The normal ascent route to the 3343 meter high mountain, on which several rope teams were currently located, was also hit.
two of them were hit.
The rescuers flew a seriously injured person to a hospital in Treviso.
Two other injured came to the Belluno hospital, five to Trento.
Search and rescue workers had to exercise extreme caution because of the risk that more ice and rockfalls could follow.
According to the information, 18 people were above the broken-off point and were waiting to be rescued.
Glacier collapse in Italy: "We knew something bad had happened"
"We heard a loud noise, typical of a landslide," an eyewitness told the
Ansa
news agency .
"After that we saw an avalanche of snow and ice fall at high speed in the direction of the valley and we knew that something bad had happened."
(dpa)
