A 56-year-old Richmond Hill woman died after being caught in a sudden snowstorm in Italy’s Dolomite mountains and her companion was being handled for extreme hypothermia, Italy’s Alpine Rescue Corps stated Friday.
The 2 climbers, exhausted and struggling hypothermia, referred to as for assist Thursday night after being hit by the snowstorm about two kilometers (greater than a mile) from a mountain refuge. The hikers weren’t recognized by identify.
“At 8:44 p.m., we received the emergency call,” Adam Holzknect of the Aiut Alpin Dolomites tells OMNI TV. “They were on the Alta Via delle Dolomiti, also known as Route 2, which is quite famous, between the Genoa Refuge and the Puez Refuge.”
“It was understood that they were about an hour away from the Puez Refuge. The manager of the refuge was also called, as it was known that two people were missing, and together with a local Alpine guide, they went to see if they could find them,” defined Holzknect.
“Instead of descending, [the couple] decided to ascend to a higher altitude to reach this refuge, a decision that proved fatal for them.”
Holzknect says they tried a helicopter rescue nevertheless it was deemed too dangerous on account of unhealthy climate.
He says when the rescue group lastly managed to succeed in them the lady had already been unconscious for a while and she or he was pronounced deceased.
Rescuers put up a tent and sheltered the 56-year-old male hiker in a single day till the storm cleared and a helicopter may rescue him early Friday. He was being handled at a hospital within the northern Italian metropolis of Bolzano.
Silvia Pontecorvi contributed to this report
