Rescue teams are looking for at least 15 missing from the calving of a glacier in Italy with almost no hope of finding them alive

The weather was so bad on Monday morning that not even the helicopter carrying Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi to the scene of the tragedy could reach its destination.

This had not been the case in the previous days, when temperatures reached a record 10 degrees in one of the areas of the Marmolada glacier, the highest in the Dolomites (about 3,000 meters high).

That was the cause of the melting and detachment of the glacier last Sunday that, so far, has caused eight deaths, eight injuries and 15 missing.

The rescue teams believe that, after more than 24 hours, it will be very difficult to find someone alive.

In addition, it is not ruled out that more hikers, of whom there has been no news, were in the area at that time.

The detachment this Sunday of a

, as these fractures in the glaciers are called, occurred between Punta Rocca and Punta Penia, in the Marmorada group between the regions of Trentino and Veneto (northeast Italy).

The rupture caused a wave of 200 meters long and 30 high of pieces of ice, rock and snow that fell at 300 kilometers per hour and buried the victims.

A landslide of an unprecedented magnitude in the Alps.

The remains of the piece that decomposed later occupied an area of ​​about two square kilometers in which the rescue teams are now working with great difficulty.

The temperature has risen noticeably in recent days.

In fact, on Sunday only zero degrees were reached at 4,400 meters.

At the top of the glacier, at 3,343 meters, the thermometer reached 12 degrees.

It was precisely at 1:45 p.m., when the sun completely set on the face of the mountain where the glacier is located, when the first rumble was heard and the avalanche began.

Some hikers were going up at the time, others were going down, and a few were in the parking area.

Draghi told the press that it is a drama that is partly unpredictable, but that "it depends on the deterioration of the environment and the climatic situation."

“Today Italy mourns the victims.

But the government must reflect on what has happened and take action, so that there is very little chance of it happening again."

Bad weather made it difficult during the early morning and Monday morning to rescue the disappeared.

The rescue teams used drones equipped with thermal cameras, capable of identifying the source of heat emitted by a person even in the dark.

But the climatic conditions are key to the success of these works, because if the temperature does not drop, more landslides could occur.

That is why the authorities have asked that no one approach that area.

The prosecutor of Trento, Sandro Raimondi, in charge of the investigation, has been very pessimistic regarding the final balance of the victims.

“I fear that it could be double or triple, given the number of missing people and the fact that there are 16 parked cars left.

The first thing to do is identify the victims, which will not be easy.

DNA will be necessary ”, he lamented.

Pessimism

Pessimism is the general trend right now.

This was also expressed by the president of Alpine Relief in Alto Adige, Giorgio Gajer.

According to this expert in rescue operations, the chances of finding them alive are "truly very low, if not zero."

"The avalanche will have crushed them, it is difficult to think of finding them alive after so many hours."

It is also feared that some of the disappeared are foreigners and that their families did not know that they were climbing the glacier.

So they will take longer to be claimed and to be counted as missing.

The Marmolada is the largest glacier in the Dolomites mountain chain and it is estimated that it will disappear in about 25 or 30 years, even sooner if the temperature continues to rise, warned the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy.

The glacier has lost 30% of its volume and 22% of its extension between 2004 and 2015, according to a study by the CNR Institute of Marine Sciences, in collaboration with several universities.

“At this speed it will probably happen sooner.

The most general projection indicates that in 2100, in the best of cases, 70% of the alpine glaciers will have disappeared;

at worst, 96%”, explained CNR scientist Roberto Colucci.

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