Italy avalanches kill 7, including 4 rescuers

[Hacksaw]

Italy avalanches kill 7, including 4 rescuers
Seven people, including a German teenager, have been killed by avalanches in northern Italy, officials said Sunday.

The Associated Press

ROME —
Seven people, including a German teenager, have been killed by avalanches in northern Italy, officials said Sunday.

In one incident, two Italian tourists were killed when an avalanche hit them in the Italian Alps, said local Carabinieri police. Four rescuers who were looking for them were hit by a subsequent avalanche and were also killed.

The two tourists had gone missing Saturday afternoon while mountain climbing in the Trentino Alto Adige region.

In a separate incident in the same region, rescue and Carabinieri police officials said Sunday that a 14-year-old from Germany was hit by an avalanche when he was skiing with his brother and a friend. The 14-year-old was killed on the spot, the Carabinieri in the town of Silandro said.

Rescue official Holaf Reinstadler also confirmed the death and said the body was recovered about an hour later. The victim's brother was unhurt, while the third skier was taken to the hospital in nearby city of Bolzano. His condition was not known.

The victim was identified as Maximilian Conrad. The Carabinieri police said he was from the town of Trabach.

Elsewhere in Italy, heavy rainfall over the past few days caused rivers to overflow their banks, causing landslides and forcing the evacuations of hundreds of people in Tuscany and other regions, officials said. Some stretches of highways and other roads were closed.

The damage was estimated in the millions of euros (dollars). The head of the Civil Protection Department, Guido Bertolaso, said the government would soon declare a state of emergency for the hardest-hit regions, freeing funds for emergency relief and reconstruction.

The weather is forecast to improve in coming hours.

[dk_alaskan]

RIP. ++++++vibes to everyone affected by this tragic accident.

[hutash]

That really sucks. It is especially bad when rescuers are caught up trying to help others

Peace to family and friends.

[Benny Profane]

Holy crap! Four rescuers at once? There's some more detail I'd like to hear about that one.

Very sad about the 14 year old.

[le dog]

there has been a lot of noise about these deaths here in Italy. there are lots of people that, because of proximity of the mountains to the most populated areas or because in a very compact country such is Italy, it is very easy to take the care and go to the mountains, whatever the reason, we tend to underestimate the risks of mountaineering. the head of Italian civil protection was featured on all newspapers and was totally mad about all those people who are going to the mountains with absolutely no idea of what an avalanche is, the inherent risks, etc. we got very mild temps the past two weeks and it rained up to 2300 mts elevation, after it had snowed the previous week. in those conditions, you do not want to go offpiste. 4 rescuers dead at the same place and moment is a tragedy I haven't seen in a long long time (if ever). this happened in val di fassa, the very heart of the Dolomiti (a stone's throw from where shane mcconkey jumped that last jump). the other casualty happened on the western part of the Eastern Alps (sorry..). i have been caught on an avalanche 11 years ago for the same exact reason that these guys were caught: i did not know what I was doing. I saw dry, glittering powder and just went. all the mountain followed...

[Marius]

thats the problem. everywhere you see glittery snow (magazine, ads, tv...). since 24th the accidents have ramatically increased here in europe. normally there happens much at christmas because of all jongs skiing offpiste. but there normally arent that many accidentslik enow. bad not visible snow conditions for those jongs.

i hope we wont come to this "american" ski resorts attidute with this "inbounds/outbounds - who is guilty" thing.

[SonnyBoy]

god damnit

[summit]

Ugh. Bad.

[Toadman]

That is very sad. I'm just wondering what the thought process was in terms of risk evaluation by the rescuers for going into what had to be an extreme avalanche danger area. Any Euro mags have local news reports that might shed light on this topic?

[Blurred]

The snow doesn't care if you've been to a million safety classes.......common sense goes further than anything else.

+++VIBES+++

[le dog]

toadman: according to what I read, the rescuers had been called at about 18.00, there were two missing people. these guys (not locals, not Italian) had left in the morning with snowshoes and at dark had not come back yet. as said in a previous post, snowpack was highly unstable (4 out 5 avalanche risk). rescuers left at 19.00, went up to 2700 mts and were well into the slope, when everything broke loose and the whole slope collapsed (it seems the avalanche started from the very top of the mountain, according to what I read). all rescuers were highly skilled professional, probably they felt that the slope would not release again. it did. and caught six of them (they were seven), killing four (besides having already killed the two showshoers). it's hard to say how the rescuers assessed risk on the slope. it was night time, at almost 3000 mts, right in the middle of the winter, looking frantically to find somebody alive (I presume that's the feeling they have in those moments). those are the mountains where I ski all the time. even though I have been skiing and boarding my whole life, I still feel I know really nothing about the mountains (i am taking my first serious avalanche course, all winter long, starting end of January).

[le dog]

by the way, as blurred said, common sense should be your best friend. avalanche 4/5 risk? you are reading the latest Ski Journal at home. densely treed and low grade slopes are possibly safer but never be too positive about that.

[McDee]

So sad to hear, vibes to the families.

[garyfromterrace]

Tragic....

[stomp]

i dont like questioning rescue tactics without all the facts but a 7pm start to a rescue operation in extreme hazard sounds like an unfortunate contributing factor to the rescuer fatalities...

fucking harsh...RIP

[wetcoaster]

Unbelievably tragic. A reminder to everyone to think about possible consequences.