Sad news came from Italy this morning. Two Austrian mountaineers went missing this week, but by the time rescuers found them, they had died. The bodies were 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) up, dangling from their ropes that were still anchored to the mountain. Italian officials believe the climbers fell either due to a mistake or because of a rockslide.
According to a Facebook post from the Italian emergency rescue service Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico Friuli Venezia Giulia (CNSAS), the Austrian mountaineers were climbing Cima di Riofreddo in the Giulie Alps when the worst happened. The exact cause of death is not clear, and officials have not yet released the mountaineers’ names.
“Their phones rang blankly at the calls of relatives awaiting their return,” the devastating post says in Italian.
The climbers were near the summit when they fell. Cima di Riofreddo is 2,507 meters (8,225 feet) tall, according to SummitPost.org.
See the CNSAS’s Facebook post here:
Sadly, the Italian Alps have claimed other lives this summer, including two career skiers, who fell from Monte Zerbion in June.
CNSAS says after rescue crews recovered the two Austrian mountaineers’ bodies, they entrusted them to Italian funeral homes.
Header image of Cima di Riofreddo by Vid Pogachnik via SummitPost.org.
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