The collapse of part of the largest Marmolada glacier in the Italian Alps has been linked to global warming, the Italian prime minister confirmed on Monday, the day after the disaster. At least seven people were killed and eight injured.
Fourteen people are reported missing by their relatives but their presence when the glacier broke off has not been confirmed. Among the injured are two Germans, a 67-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman, whose condition remains critical.
The disaster, which occurred a day after the glacier’s summit recorded temperatures of 10 degrees Celsius amid an early heat wave on the Italian peninsula, was ‘undoubtedly’ linked to ‘environmental and climate degradation’. situation,” said Mario Draghi on Monday, who expressed his “support” for the affected families.
Rescuers have used drones equipped with thermal cameras in the hope of finding survivors on the ice and crumbling rocks, the mayor of the city of Canassie, Giovanni Bernard, told AFP. ‘These are dangerous conditions for rescuers’ who cannot advance on foot.
The head of high mountain rescue operations in the region, Giorgio Gajar, warned AGI that the chances of finding survivors were “almost zero”. Only three of the seven victims have been identified, but their nationalities have not been released by authorities.
‘Early Heat Episode’
‘I was on the terrace of the shelter and I heard a noise, I turned to my left and saw ice coming down the mountain and then a huge cloud of dust. It lasted two or three minutes and the snow cloud melted,” Luca Medici, 54, a ski instructor who lives in Ganassi, told AFP. The glacier collapsed near the Punta Rocca area, on its usual route to reach its summit.
The tragedy “is the result of current meteorological conditions, that is, an episode of early warming consistent with the problem of global warming,” explained Massimo Fressotti, professor at the Science Department of the University of Rome Tre, to AFP.
‘The speed of melting in the Alps has increased. We had a very dry winter with 40-50% rainfall deficit. ‘Current glacier conditions are not in mid-August, early July,’ the researcher said.
“Because of these extremely high temperatures, unfortunately there was an accumulation of water under the glacier, which caused the collapse,” said Paolo Dalman, 56, owner of an inn in the area, AFP. Marmolada told Glacier. ‘I’ve lived here for 50 years and this is the first time I’ve seen this.’
‘Queen of the Dolomites’
Footage shot from a shelter near the disaster showed debris from the glacier tumbling down the mountain’s slopes at speeds of up to 300km/h, mixed with rocks, according to local authorities. Other pictures taken by tourists on their mobile phones show the avalanche’s gray tongue from afar, sweeping everything in its path and leaving climbers with no chance.
Pictures sent by the Alpine Rescue Team show rescue workers working near the disaster site as helicopters airlift victims down the valley to the village of Khanasi, not far from where the cable car goes. The top of the glacier.
The Marmolada Glacier, known as the ‘Queen of the Dolomites’, is the largest glacier in this mountain range in northern Italy, part of the Alps. Located in Trentino, it gives birth to the Avisio River and overlooks Lake Fedaia.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on March 1, melting snow and ice is one of the top 10 threats to global warming, disrupting ecosystems and threatening some infrastructure. The IPCC notes that glaciers in Scandinavia, Central Europe and the Caucasus could lose 60 to 80% of their mass by the end of the century.
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