Two bodies have been found as rescuers searched for people missing since Sunday’s deadly avalanche on the Marmolada, the largest glacier in the Italian Dolomites.
The victims have not yet been identified, but they are believed to be part of the same group of climbers, according to Italian media.
This Wednesday’s announcement raises the number of deaths in the tragedy again. Three people remain missing for three days after a mass of ice broke from the glacier, sending an avalanche of ice, rocks and debris that plummeted down the slope and into a popular hiking trail. Eight people were injured, two seriously.
When relatives questioned whether the glacier, which has been melting at an accelerated rate over the past decade, should have been closed, Trento prosecutor Sandro Raimondi, who has opened an investigation to determine if there was any negligence, he said Wednesday it appeared the avalanche could not have been predicted.
“The unpredictability of this event is the protagonist,” he said. “To have a responsibility you have to be able to anticipate an event, which is very, very difficult.”
The victims identified so far are: Filippo Bari, 27; Tommaso Carollo, 48; Paolo Dani, 52; and Liliana Bertoldi, 54.
Carollo’s partner, Alessandra De Camilli, was among those hospitalized in Trento. “I love you Tommaso, forever and ever,” he wrote on Facebook.
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Lifeguards have been scouring the area with drones and tracking dogs although the operation has been hampered by storms.
The mayor of Canazei, the town in Trentino closest to the glacier, and leaders of other towns in the area have closed the Marmolada. However, some hikers have ventured on trails on their lower slopes, while curious visitors have been descending to a mountain refuge from where the avalanche site can be seen in the distance.
Known as the Queen of the Dolomites, the Marmolada has lost more than 80% of its volume over the past 72 years and Italian scientists warned in 2020 that the glacier could disappear in 15 years due to global warming.
It is believed that the heat wave that has affected Italy since mid-May, as well as a warmer-than-usual winter and light snowfall, have contributed to the avalanche.