A huge chunk of an Alpine glacier melted and broke loose on Sunday. It came down the mountain in Italy, sending ice, snow, and rocks slamming into hikers on a popular trail on the peak.
IMAGE SOURCE :https://bigseventravel.com/italy-marmolada-glacier-could-disappear/
Also called the “queen of the Dolomites,” Marmolada rises about 3,300 meters (about 11,000 feet) and is the highest of the 18 peaks in that eastern range of the Italian Alps. It also offers a spectacular view of other Alpine peaks. The Alpine rescue service informed us through Twitter that the segment broke off near Punta Rocca (Rock Point).
At least six people died when a huge chunk of alpine glacier broke loose and slid down a mountainside in Italy. The collapse took place on Sunday afternoon because of which ice, snow, and rock slammed into hikers on a popular trail on the Marmolada peak. The incident caused the deaths of six people and injured nine others, authorities reported. Unfortunately, the toll is expected to rise.
A local civil protection official said the situation was “evolving” and that there could be about 15 people missing. Both the National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps shared a phone number on Twitter to call for family or friends in case of “failure to return from possible excursions” to the glacier.
The rescue team checked number plates in the car park to determine how many people might have not been accounted for. The entire process could take hours. It was also tweeted that the current search for the peak included rescue dogs and at least five helicopters. The operation was paused due to the fear that another part of the glacier could melt.
.The glacier is the largest in the Dolomite mountains and is situated in the Marmolada range in northeastern Italy. People often visit the place to ski in the winter. But due to global warming and other factors, the glacier has been rapidly melting away in the past few years.
Experts at Italy’s state-run research center, which also has a polar sciences institute, say the glacier won’t exist anymore in the next 25-30 years and much of its volume has already perished.
U.N. experts have identified the Mediterranean basin, shared by southern Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa, as a “climate change hot spot” and said it is likely to suffer heat waves along with water shortages, among other effects. “We saw dead (people) and enormous chunks of ice and rock,” exhausted-looking rescuer Luigi Felicetti told the media.
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.travalour.com/attraction/12125-marmolada-glacier
Nationalities or ages of the people who passed away due to glacier melting weren’t immediately available. Among the hospitalized survivors, two were in extremely grave conditions. The fast-moving avalanche came down with a roar that could be heard a great distance away.
The search by helicopter and dogs for any more victims or missing was halted temporarily for the night while rescuers evaluated the risk that more of the glacier could break off, said Walter Cainelli, after conducting a rescue mission with a search dog. Rescuers were informed that blocks of ice were continuously tumbling down. In the early evening, even light rainfall took place.
The Alpine rescue corps will evacuate 18 people who were above the area where the ice struck, according to the SUEM dispatch service based in the Veneto region. Some of those making the trek in the area where the avalanche barreled through were tied together by rope, according to local emergency services.
But Milan said some of the hikers might be able to get down by themselves, including by using the peak’s cable car. They also said the avalanche consisted of a “pouring down of snow, ice, and rock.” The detached section is known as a serac, or pinnacle of ice.
