Italy has resumed rescue work on Tuesday to try to find a survivor between the block of ice and rocks that broke off on Sunday from the Marmolada peak, which at 3,300 meters is the highest in the Dolomites, in the Alps. Orientals. But he does so with little hope: as the hours go by, the chances of finding people alive fade.
The number of official missing persons has been lowered from thirteen people to eight, after five have been located safely. These are four foreigners and one Italian, a 30-year-old from the town of Fornace who is seriously admitted to a Treviso hospital, although his life is not in danger. He was found unconscious and without any documents on him.
The number of deceased remains seven, but not all have been identified. Among them are believed to be two Czechs whose car is parked next to the path leading to the glacier. Eight other people were injured.
“It will be difficult to recover the victims”, Walter Cainelli, president of Alpine Relief in Trentino, said today. The expert has defined the current scenario as a “river of ice, stones and rocks” on which it is practically impossible to carry out a search without putting the lives of rescuers at risk. Scientists are evaluating the conditions of the ice on Tuesday, but at the moment they see it as “unthinkable” to climb with such a precarious balance.
Given the instability of the mountain, the emergency teams have chosen to try to find a clue with drones and helicopters, which even detect mobile phone signals. They have found some pieces of clothing and personal effects, although it is still unknown if they belonged to the victims or to other hikers who had previously climbed here.
The rescuers then get out of the helicopter, take pictures, take away the remains found and leave. “You are only going to recover something on the surface. We can’t dig, because the mass of snow is so consolidated that you can’t even use a pick”, explained Maurizio Dell’Antonio, from the national Alpine Relief.
Alex Barattin, another member of the body, has been very clear in warning that “finding someone alive in an event of this type is a very remote possibility, because this type of avalanche has a huge impact on people.” The weather conditions today are allowing good visibility after Monday’s rain forced the search to be suspended for a few hours.
