Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Monday linked the collapse of the Marmolada glacier in the Alps, which left at least seven dead and eight injured, “to the degradation of the environment and the climatic situation,” he declared after visiting the area.
“This is a tragedy that surely had an element of unpredictability, but it is also undoubtedly related to the deterioration of the environment and the climatic situation,” Draghi said after meeting in Canazei (north) with rescue teams searching for nearly 14 people still missing after Sunday’s avalanche.
Among the injured, two are in serious condition and in intensive care, Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region, told the press.
Rescue teams had little hope of finding survivors on Monday after part of the Marmolada glacier collapsed, caused by a heat wave.
The disaster occurred a day after a record temperature of 10 ° C was recorded at the top of the glacier, weakened by global warming, as well as by the heat wave that hit the entire Italian peninsula, which accelerated its melting. .
The chances of finding survivors “are almost nil,” Giorgio Gajer, head of the region’s high-mountain rescue services, warned the press.
Due to the bad weather that hit the area this Monday, the helicopter that was transporting Prime Minister Mario Draghi could not land in Canazei, so he had to arrive by car.
“It is a very dangerous situation also for the rescuers,” who cannot advance on foot, the mayor of the city of Canazei, Giovanni Bernard, told AFP.
According to the press, at least three Italians and a Czech are among the hikers killed in the collapse.
“We found some mangled bodies among the pile of ice and debris scattered over a thousand meters,” Gino Comelli, of the high mountain rescue teams, was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera newspaper.
– Accelerated defrost –
The collapse of part of the Marmolada glacier “is a consequence of current weather conditions, that is, of an episode of anticipated heat that coincides with the problem of global warming,” Professor Massimo Frezzotti, from the department of Rome III University Sciences.
For his part, Pope Francis said on Twitter that “the tragedies we are experiencing due to climate change should encourage us to urgently seek new paths that respect people and nature.”
The glacier collapsed near the town of Punta Rocca, on the usual route to reach its summit.
Paolo Talmon, 56, who owns a cabin near the glacier, said that due to the heat “a puddle of water formed under the glacier, causing it to collapse.”
“I have lived here for 50 years and this is the first time I have seen something like this,” he told AFP-TV.
– ‘Queen of the Dolomites’ –
Footage filmed from a shelter near the disaster shows snow mixed with rocks rolling down the mountainside accompanied by a rumbling noise.
Other images taken by tourists with their mobile phones show the avalanche from afar, dragging everything in its path.
The Marmolada Glacier, nicknamed “the queen of the Dolomites”, is the largest glacier in this mountain range in northern Italy, which is part of the Alps.
The speed of the detachment reached about 300 km per hour, according to local authorities.
According to the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the glaciers of Scandinavia, central Europe and the Caucasus could lose between 60 and 80% of their mass by the end of the century.
