Alpine avalanche leaves 7 dead, 13 missing in Italy

CANAZEI, Italy — Thunderstorms hampered Monday the search for more than a dozen hikers who remained unaccounted for a day after a huge chunk of an Alpine glacier in Italy broke off, sending an avalanche of ice, snow and rocks down the slope. Officials put the known death toll at seven.

“I hope the numbers stop here,’’ said Veneto Gov.

Luca Zaia, whose region in northeast Italy borders the Dolomite mountain range including the Marmolada glacier. He spoke in the resort town of Canazei, where a morgue was set up in the ice rink.

Another regional leader, Maurizio Fugatti, said 14 people remained unaccounted for by Monday afternoon: 10 Italians, three from Czechia and one from Austria. Local officials later said that Austrian consular officials had made contact with the Austrian.

“We were contacted by families because these people didn’t return home,’” said Fugatti of the Trentino-Alto Adige Alpine region.

In the mountain’s parking lot, four cars remained whose occupants hadn’t been traced — two cars had license plates from Czechia; one vehicle was from Germany and the fourth was from Hungary.