At least six people were killed and eight others injured, some seriously, in a massive glacier collapse in northern Italy.
This was announced by the rescue control center of the Veneto region after the accident on Sunday.
In the afternoon, five helicopters and several dog teams, among other things, were used to search for other climbers under the ice, snow and rock masses.
Nothing was initially known about the nationality of the victims.
Initially, there was talk of five fatalities.
A large chunk of glacier had detached itself from the Marmolada mountain massif and had fallen down into the valley.
The normal ascent route to the 3343 meter high mountain, on which several rope teams were currently located, was also hit.
two of them were hit.
The rescuers flew a seriously injured person to a hospital in Treviso.
Two other injured came to the Belluno hospital, five to Trento.
According to the information, 18 people were above the broken-off point and were waiting to be rescued.
"We heard a loud noise, typical of a landslide," said an eyewitness to the Ansa news agency.
"After that, we saw an avalanche of snow and ice fall towards the valley at high speed and we knew something bad had happened."
Because of the danger of new glacier falls, the search for further victims on the ground has been interrupted for the time being.
As the emergency services announced in the evening, the mountain rescuers were withdrawn from the flank of the mountain.
First of all, it must be clarified how safe the situation is for the helpers.
The helicopters flew on and also brought those people who were stranded above the accident site into the valley.
There, based on the cars in the parking lots, it was also checked who could still be under the avalanche.
Carlo Budel, the host of the Capanna Punta Penia refuge, writes in an Instagram post: "The Marmolada ascent is closed from all sides, today is a really sad day, stay away from the glacier...🙏🙏🙏"