Hopes Fading for Missing Climbers After Italian Glacier Collapse

Punta Rocca summit is seen after part of a mountain glacier collapsed in the Italian Alps, at Marmolada ridge, Italy, on July 5, 2022. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

CANAZEI, Italy—Rescue teams resumed the search on Tuesday for 13 climbers who were missing after part of a glacier gave way high in the Italian Alps on Sunday, killing at least seven people.

Hopes of finding survivors were fading more than 36 hours after the avalanche took place. Three people from the Czech Republic were among those unaccounted for.

Sunday’s avalanche took place on the Marmolada, which at more than 3,300 meters (10,830 ft) is the highest peak in the Dolomites, a range in the eastern Italian Alps straddling the regions of Trento and Veneto.

A view shows the site of a deadly collapse of parts of a mountain glacier in the Italian Alps amid record temperatures, at Marmolada ridge, Italy, on July 5, 2022. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

People look at the site of a deadly collapse of parts of a mountain glacier in the Italian Alps amid record temperatures, at Marmolada ridge, Italy, on July 5, 2022. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

With the peak still unstable, rescuers have been using drones and helicopters to look for victims or to try to locate them through their mobile phone signals.

Italian media said those confirmed to have been killed included Davide Miotti, a 51-year-old local alpine guide who ran a sports shop in the area.

By Guglielmo Mangiapane and Roberto Mignucci