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Six dead in mountaineering tragedies

The Local Italy
The Local Italy - [email protected]
Six dead in mountaineering tragedies
Königspitze is close to the Swiss border. Photo: Tunde Pecsvari/Flickr

Six people died yesterday while climbing Italy’s Königspitze (Gran Zebrù) mountain, in two separate tragedies blamed on high temperatures.

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The first incident happened early on Sunday morning, and claimed the lives of 45-year-old Daniele Andorno, 43-year-old Michele Calestani and Matteo Miari, 22. Local news website Südtirol Online said that the trio were roped together and another pair of climbers with the group raised the alarm. 

At lunchtime, the mountain claimed the lives of two brothers; 30-year-old Jan Holzmann and 26-year-old Matthias. Wolfgang Genta, 32, also died. The group left a mountain refuge yesterday morning and were reported missing when they failed to return.

Italian media reported that the tragedies, which occurred on the same part of the 3,851m mountain, were likely due to the recent hot weather as fresh snow and ice would have become unstable.

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