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The conditions are too dangerous for resuming the search for the missing and for the descent of the bodies of the victims, officials from the Italian Alps said today.
Storms have hampered the search for about 10 hikers still missing in the Marmolada glacier tragedy, where the sudden collapse sent an avalanche of ice, snow and rock down the mountainside.
At least seven people died and nine were injured in the horrific incident on Sunday evening, which happened as dozens of hikers were walking, some tied to each other with ropes.
Trento prosecutor Sandro Raimondi said 17 hikers were initially believed to be missing, but the number was later reduced to 15 after some of the missing were located.
At least four bodies brought to a makeshift morgue in the icy area of Canazei in the Dolomite mountain resort were identified today.
The Rai network said three of those identified were Italian, including an experienced mountain guide leading the group.
One of the dead was from the Czech Republic, Rai said.
According to media reports, the missing include other Italians, three Romanians, a Frenchman, an Austrian and four others from the Czech Republic.
The head of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, said some hikers were tied to each other for safety.
Search teams today said conditions were too dangerous for dog teams to retrieve the bodies of the victims.
Sixteen cars still remain without owners in the resort’s parking lot, as authorities are trying to determine whether they belong to the victims or the injured.
“An unimaginable massacre, some of the bodies will only be identified by DNA,” an aid source told Rai News.
It is not yet known what caused the glacier to collapse and fall like an avalanche at a speed of about 300 km/h on the mountain side.
The Marmolada range glacier is the largest in the Dolomite mountains in northeastern Italy, and is a popular destination for skiers in winter.
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