Six die in Italian Alps as glacier collapses

At least six people have died after a large chunk of Alpine glacier broke loose yesterday afternoon and slid down a mountainside in Italy.

The collapse sent ice, snow and rock slamming into hikers on a popular trail on the peak, killing at least six and injuring eight, authorities said.

Gianpaolo Bottacin, a local civil protection official, stressed last night that the situation was “evolving” and that there could be 15 people missing.

Yesterday evening, the Italy’s National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps tweeted a phone number to call for family or friends in case of “failure to return from possible excursions” to the glacier.

Rescuers were checking licence plates in the parking lot as part of checks to determine how many people might be unaccounted for, a process that could take hours, said Walter Milan, a spokesperson for the rescue corps.

Earlier the corps had tweeted that the continuing search of Marmolada peak involved at least five helicopters and rescue dogs, but the operation was paused last night amid fears that more of the glacier could break off.

It said the hikers had been “hit by the detachment of the serac”, referring to a technical term for a pinnacle of a glacier. “There are eight injured, two of them in grave condition.”

The Servizio Urgenza Emergenza Medica dispatch service said 18 people who were above the area where the ice struck were set to be evacuated by the rescue corps.

The dispatch service said the avalanche consisted of a “pouring down of snow, ice and rock”. Marmolada, which is 3,343 metres (10,967ft) high, is the tallest peak in the Dolomites.

The Alpine rescue service said in a tweet that the segment broke off near Punta Rocca, “along the itinerary normally used to reach the peak”.

It was not immediately clear what caused the section of ice to break away, but Milan said the intense heatwave gripping Italy since late June could be a factor.

“The heat is unusual,” he said, noting that temperatures in recent days on the peak had topped 10C. “That’s extreme heat” for the peak, Milan added.