According to the rescue service, the exceptionally high temperatures of the past few days could have contributed to the detachment of the ice block.
An accident occurred in the Northern Italian Alps, the Dolomites, on Sunday, in which at least six people have died and eight have been injured.
Italian public broadcaster Rain (you switch to another service) according to the report, the accident was caused by a large ice block detached from the glacier on the slope of the Marmolada mountain, the highest in the Dolomites. The avalanche it caused crashed into several hikers.
Injured hikers have been transported to different hospitals in the area for treatment. Possible other hikers caught in the avalanche are being searched for in the accident area by helicopters.
The number of victims was feared to increase because there were many climbers in the area. The authorities did not tell the nationality of the victims. They also did not have accurate information on how many people were in the area when the avalanche occurred.
The rescue work continued on Sunday evening with the help of helicopters, because the snow, ice and rock avalanche had covered the passage.
Spokesperson for the Rescue Service Walter Milan says that the detachment of the ice block could have been influenced by the exceptionally high temperatures in the mountains in recent days.
A temperature of 10 degrees was measured at the top of Marmolada on Saturday, reports Italian public radio Rai.