Hopes fading for missing climbers after Italian glacier collapse

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

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.

Much of Italy has been baking in an early-summer heatwave and scientists said climate change was making previously stable glaciers more difficult to predict.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the disaster was linked to environmental factors.

“The government must think about what has happened and take steps to ensure that what happened is unlikely to do so again or can even be avoided,” he said during a visit to the site on Monday.

Italy on Monday declared a state of emergency for areas including Veneto surrounding the river Po, which accounts for roughly a third of the country’s agricultural production and is suffering its worst drought for 70 years.