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Rescue helicopter in the Dolomites
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Pope Francis has named the climate crisis as the cause of the deadly glacial avalanche in northern Italy.
"Let's pray together for the victims of the Marmolada glacier fall and for their families," the pontiff's account tweeted on Monday.
"The tragedies that we are currently experiencing with climate change must push us to urgently find new human and nature-conscious ways," the 85-year-old head of the Catholic Church continued.
On Sunday afternoon, an avalanche of debris, snow and ice fell on Mount Marmolada in the Dolomites, sweeping away several Italian and foreign climbers.
At least six people lost their lives.
The authorities expect more fatalities.
Almost 20 people were considered missing.
The former extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner also sees the glacier fall in the Dolomites with several deaths as a clear consequence of climate change and global warming.
"These eat away the glaciers," said the 77-year-old of the German Press Agency after the accident on Sunday.
At least six alpinists were caught and killed by a huge chunk of glacier and an avalanche.
About a dozen people were injured, and more victims were feared under the ice, snow and rock masses.
Messner reminded that glaciers pose an increasing danger, because the unusually high temperatures at these times make them increasingly unstable, according to the mountaineer.
So-called ice towers – known as seracs – form right at the edges of the cliff, “which can be as big as skyscrapers or rows of houses,” explained Messner.
The fall speed of the serac on the Marmolada was estimated at around 300 km/h.
Messner, who was the first alpinist to climb all 14 eight-thousanders in the world, knows Seracs, for example from the Himalayas.
He warns that tours on ice should only be undertaken with a mountain guide.
Incidents like the Marmolada "we will see more often," he predicted.
"Today there are a lot more rock and ice falls than there used to be."
"Global warming comes from urban centers and cities, from highways and factories," says Messner.
»But we in the mountains notice it, for 30 years we have been seeing with the naked eye how the glaciers are melting.
You don't have to be a scientist to do that.«
10 degrees Celsius at the summit
The exact cause of the glacier collapse was initially unknown.
However, the heat wave that has been gripping northern Italy since May and is also causing unusually high temperatures in early summer in the normally cooler Alps has repeatedly been mentioned as a possible factor.
Polar researcher Jacopo Gabrieli from the state research center CNR noted that northern Italy is experiencing the highest temperatures in almost 20 years at this time of year.
"It's an absolute anomaly," Gabriele said on Monday on state television.
However, it is impossible to predict when such a glacier overhang will break off, as happened on Sunday.
The mountain rescue service pointed out on Sunday that the temperature on the 3,300-meter-high summit exceeded 10 degrees Celsius at the end of last week, far higher than usual.
Operators of mountain huts on the slope of the Marmolada said they had measured record values of 24 degrees Celsius at an altitude of 2000 meters.
The Marmolada is the largest glacier in the Dolomites and is used for skiing.
It has been melting rapidly for decades and has already lost most of its volume.
CNR experts estimated years ago that the glacier would disappear completely within 25 to 30 years.
ak/dpa/AP