Italian Alps glacier collapse

By Borut and Zivulovic CANAZEI, Italy (Reuters) - Search and rescue operations resumed on Monday in the Italian Alps with 17 people missing, ...

"The Marmolada glacier collapse is a natural disaster linked directly to climate change," said Poul Christoffersen, a professor in Glaciology at the University of Cambridge. "This is the first such accident in the history of the mountain," said Gino Comelli, who was helping to coordinate rescue efforts. Much of Italy has been baking in an early-summer heatwave and experts said the disaster was linked to climate change that was making glaciers more unstable.

Sixteen people are thought to be missing as authorities describe the disaster as an 'unthinkable carnage'.

Trento’s Alpine Rescue said the situation on the mountain remains perilous due to the likelihood of new avalanches. An inquiry has been opened to ascertain what caused the disaster. Carlo Budel, manager of the nearby Capanna Penia, said a catastrophe of similar proportions had not been recorded before.

At least seven killed and others unaccounted for after chunk of melting glacier broke off and crashed into walkers.

Experts at the CNR research centre, which has a polar sciences institute, estimated a couple of years ago that the glacier would cease to exist within 25 to 30 years. Operators of shelters along the mountainside said temperatures at the 2,000-metre (6,600ft) level recently reached 24C (75 F), hitherto unheard of heat in a place where people go in summer to stay cool. Raimondi was quoted as saying two of the nine injured were German. Zaia told reporters that one of the Germans was a 65-year-old man. One of the dead was from the Czech Republic, Rai said. But the heatwave gripping Italy since May, bringing temperatures unusually high for the start of summer even up in the normally cooler Alps, was being cited as a likely factor. It was not clear when he and the head of the national civil protection agency would arrive in Canazei for briefings.

At least six people died and 9 were injured by the avalanche of ice, snow and large rocks thundering down the slope of the mountain topped by the Marmolada ...

Experts at Italy’s state-run CNR research center, which has a polar sciences institute, estimated a couple of years ago that the glacier won’t exist anymore within 25-30 years. Operators of rustic shelters along the mountainside said temperatures at the 2,000-meter (6,600 foot) level recently reached 24C (75 F), unheard-of heat in a place where excursionists go in summer to keep cool. But the glacier has been rapidly melting away over the past decades, with much of its volume gone. But the heat wave gripping Italy since May, bringing temperatures unusually high for the start of summer even up in the normally cooler Alps was being cited as a likely factor. Of the injured patients, one of those in intensive care has yet to be identified. Sixteen cars remained unclaimed in the area's parking lot, and authorities sought to track down occupants through license plates.

Analysis: Effects of climate change already affecting mountaineering beyond deadly glacier collapse on Marmolada.

The fact that there is a crevice, it shows that the upper part at the front was not connected to the bottom part. If you take ice that is -8C, if you try to break it, it will be much more difficult than breaking ice that is exactly 0C.” Glaciologist Prof Poul Christoffersen from the University of Cambridge said: “The Marmolada glacier collapse is a natural disaster linked directly to climate change. Prof Jonathan Bamber, director of the Bristol Glaciology Centre at the University of Bristol, said: “The Dolomites in Italy, where this tragic accident occurred, experienced a drought throughout the winter with very little snowfall. The section that broke off was part of a hanging glacier with seracs or ice cliffs that become particularly unstable during in warm conditions such as those in the Dolomites right now.” Walter Milan, a spokesperson for the National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps, emphasised how hot it has been.

Thunderstorms hampered the search for more than a dozen hikers who remained unaccounted for on Monday, a day after a huge chunk of an Alpine glacier in ...

Pope Francis, who has made care of the planet a priority of his papacy, tweeted an invitation to pray for the avalanche victims and their families. Experts at the CNR research centre, which has a polar sciences institute, estimated a couple of years ago that the glacier won't exist anymore within 25 to 30 years. Operators of rustic shelters along the mountainside said temperatures at the 2,000-metre level recently reached 24 C, unheard-of heat in a place where excursionists go in summer to keep cool. But the heat wave gripping Italy since May, bringing temperatures unusually high for the start of summer even up in the normally cooler Alps, was being cited as a likely factor. Of the patients who were badly injured, so far identification has been impossible. The detached ice block was massive, estimated at 200 metres wide and 80 metres tall.