ROME (Reuters) – Italian police on Saturday confirmed 11 people died when a glacier collapsed in the Alps in an incident being blamed on rising temperatures.
Rescue teams had feared a 12th person could have been killed, but now say there is no reason to believe the toll will be higher.
The Fassa Valley was holding a day of mourning to honour those who killed in the avalanche on Sunday on the Marmolada, which at more than 3,300 metres (10,830 feet) is the highest peak in the Dolomites, a range in the eastern Italian Alps straddling the regions of Trento and Veneto.
Much of Italy has been hit by an early-summer heatwave and scientists said climate change was making previously stable glaciers more unpredictable.
“We can say we have been very quick in completing our work and reaching a final tally of 11 deaths,” Giampietro Lago, the head of a scientific police unit drafted to help with the identification process, told a news conference.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Alison Williams)
