5 Climbers, Including a Dad and His Daughter, Die After Being Caught in Avalanche

Five climbers, among them a 17-year-old girl and her father, lost their lives after being caught in an avalanche in the Italian Alps.

According to reports from the Associated Press, the BBC, and Reuters, the group of German climbers set out on Saturday, Nov. 1, to scale Cima Vertana in the Ortler mountain range near the village of Solda. The avalanche struck around 4 p.m. as they approached the 11,500-foot summit. Authorities noted that the timing of their ascent was unusually late in the day.

Officials said the victims had been traveling in separate parties rather than as a single team. One group of three was completely swept away by the avalanche, the Alpine rescue service told the BBC.

“They had been dragged to the lower part of the gully where the avalanche occurred,” explained Alpine rescue spokesman Federico Catania to the AP. “Rescue teams are now returning to the valley, also considering the worsening weather conditions at high altitude.”

Two men survived and were airlifted to a hospital in Bolzano after they raised the alarm, according to the BBC.

Olaf Reinstadler, spokesperson for the Sulden Mountain Rescue Service, told German media that the avalanche may have been triggered by recent snow drifts that had not bonded properly to the underlying ice. Although weather conditions were good earlier in the day, he said it was unusual for the climbers to still be high on the mountain in the late afternoon, as darkness would have fallen before they returned.

Rescue operations were suspended overnight due to fog and low visibility. Helicopters resumed flights on Sunday, carrying rescuers and search dogs to an altitude of about 8,530 feet before the teams continued on foot.

The area, part of the Italian Alps near the Swiss border, is a well-known destination for mountaineers, with peaks rising to 12,811 feet.

Avalanches remain a leading cause of fatal accidents in the Alps, particularly among ski mountaineers and freeriders. Analysts note that the number of such incidents has risen in recent years, partly because more climbers head into backcountry terrain soon after new snowfall.