Dramatic rescue operation on Mont Blanc: Two rope teams from Italy and South Korea are missing. A text message is the last sign of life so far.
Chamonix – The 4805.59 meter high Mont Blanc on the border between France and Italy is the king of the Alps. And according to the common definition, the highest peak in Europe. Every year the “white mountain” attracts crowds of tourists. There are also frequent fatal accidents on the giant. Now four people are simultaneously trapped in the eternal ice missing.
Sara S. and Andrea G. – she comes from the province of Liguria near Genoa and he from Lombardy – are around 40 and wanted to climb Mont Blanc on the French side. According to fanpage.it set off towards the summit from the Cosmiques hut at an altitude of 3600 metres during the night of Friday (6 September) to Saturday (7 September). The two had probably reached an altitude of 4800 metres, reports suedtirolnews.itThey were probably starting their descent when they were suddenly surprised by a drop in temperature and fog.
Italian couple missing on Mont Blanc sent distress text message: “Get us, we could freeze to death”
The mountaineering couple apparently got lost on the descent. At around 5.30 p.m. they sent a text message to the rescue team: “We fell into a crevasse, but we got out again. Now we don’t know exactly where we are and we’re so cold.” The thermometer dropped to below minus 12 degrees at the Arpa Valle d’Aosta weather station at an altitude of 4,750 meters.
“We can’t see anything, get us, we could freeze to death,” was one of their last messages to the rescuers, who initially tried unsuccessfully to reach them on foot. Since Sunday (8 September) the two have not been reachable by cell phone. The batteries are probably empty. The emergency shelter of the Vallot Hut, where there are also blankets, is 300 metres below.
Rescue workers cancel missions because it becomes too dangerous for them
“Late on Saturday afternoon, we were alerted to three rope teams in distress not far from the summit of Mont Blanc in very bad weather conditions,” the High Mountain Gendarmerie Unit (PGHM) told the news agency on Sunday. AFP Helicopters cannot take off due to poor visibility.
On Sunday, in the early hours of the morning, a new team of mountain rescuers set out from the Goûter hut, which is located at an altitude of 3,815 meters. However, the team had to abandon its mission at around 10 a.m. at the Dôme du Goûter, at an altitude of 4,200 meters. Wind and fog made it impossible to continue. On Monday (September 9), rescuers made another attempt to reach the missing people at around 7 a.m. Due to adverse weather conditions and to ensure the safety of the rescue workers deployed, the mission was called off again. Wind speeds of 70 kilometers per hour prevailed.
One of the two missing people had already climbed more than 60 four-thousand-meter peaks
Relatives of the couple travelled to Chamonix. Andrea G. is a zoologist at the University of Milan and has already climbed over 60 4000m peaks. He had only been on the Matterhorn (4478 metres) on 1 September with the second missing Sara S. On 22 August he climbed the Rimpfischorn (4199 metres) and on 23 August the Allalinhorn (4027 metres), both in Switzerland. On 4 August he crossed the Lyskamm in the Valais (4027 to 4481 metres high). And on 19 July he posted on Facebook reported the conquest of the Aiguille de Bionnassay (4052 meters) near Mont Blanc as his 63rd ascent of the 82 four-thousand-meter peaks in the Alps. Sara S. is also a passionate mountaineer. Her motto on Facebook: “Climb the mountains, not so that the world
can see you, but so that you can see the world.”
Two Koreans are also missing on Mont Blanc. Another Korean two-man rope team was rescued on Sunday morning from a height of 4,100 m not far from the Brenva Pass with the help of numerous rescue workers.
Just a few days ago, Mont Blanc proved how deadly it is: a tourist fell in the “corridor of death” and died. A falling block of ice was the downfall of three mountain climbers in July. And a mountain climber who wanted to raise money for children with cancer also fell to his death on Mont Blanc in July.
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