At least four deaths in an avalanche in the Italian Alps

Italian state television RAI reported that a large Alpine glacier broke off today and slid down a mountainside, crashing into more than a dozen hikers on a road and killing at least four people.

According to the Associated Press (AP), RAI, which also said seven other climbers were injured, did not cite a source to confirm this balance, but National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps write on Twitter that searches in the de Marmolada peak area include what not. At least five helicopters and search and rescue dogs.

The wounded, one of whom was in a critical condition, were taken to hospitals in the Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto regions, according to the rescue services.

Another blog on Twitter, by emergency authorities in northeastern Italy, reported that at least 15 parks were in the affected area.

The piece that broke off is the top of the glacier. The Marmolada is 3,300 meters high and is the highest peak in the Dolomites in the Italian Alps.

Alpine rescue services wrote on Twitter that a piece of the glacier had broken near Punta Roca, “on the route normally used to reach the summit”.

Walter Millan, a spokesman for the Alpine rescue services, told RAI that it was not clear what caused the collapse, but the intense heat wave that has hit Italy since late June may be an explanation.

“The temperature is extraordinary,” Milan said, noting that temperatures in recent days at the summit of the mountain had reached 10 degrees Celsius.

“It’s too hot” for the peak, he said, adding that it “was something clearly abnormal.”