Avalanche in Racines in South Tyrol: two dead and seven injured

Tragedy in the mountains of South Tyrol on the first day of spring. An avalanche broke loose on the Tallone Grande, in Racines, in Val Ridanna in Alto Adige. The toll was tragic: two dead and seven injured, three of them seriously. Two ski mountaineers were recovered dead from the snow masses, while another was immediately taken by the Austrian rescue helicopter Christophorus to the University Clinic in Innsbruck. The victims are two South Tyrolean men: Martin Parigger, a 62-year-old mountain guide from Ridnaun, and Alexander Frötscher, 56, originally from Ridnaun but living in Austria. A maxi intervention was carried out at the scene with about 80 mountain rescue and fire brigade personnel.

The size of the snow detachment, 150 metres wide and 800 metres long, was impressive, as was the rescue operation that was immediately triggered. The avalanche broke loose in the Ratschings area at 11.40 a.m. at an altitude of 2,445 metres and involved a total of 25 ski mountaineers, who were on the slope at the time. Most of them were fortunately only grazed by the snow masses.

A total of about 80 people took part, including fire brigade, mountain rescue and Guardia di finanza (not counting the dog units with search dogs). Six helicopters patrolled the area: five from South Tyrol (the three Pelikan, the Aiut Alpin Dolomites and the Guardia di finanza) and one from Tyrol (the Christophorus 1 from Innsbruck). The group was immediately tracked down thanks to the Artva, the transceiver tracking device used by ski mountaineers.

The most seriously injured are in intensive care beds at the hospitals of Merano, Bolzano and Bressanone, where the wounded have arrived. Before today, the last victim in South Tyrol was on 22 February in the Merano 2000 ski resort: on that occasion, shortly after midday, the snow mass had broken off from the Plattinger mountain in the Missensteiner pass area. In that case, too, the deployment of rescuers was massive: between 50 and 70 from Merano, Lana and Sarentino, with dog units, probes and helicopters equipped with the tracking system. The victim was a 50-year-old South Tyrolean man - Armin Schwitzer - from Val Sarentino. An avalanche dog found him after several hours of searching.

 These days, by the way, mark the tenth anniversary of the avalanche on Monte Nevoso, above Riva di Tures (it was 12 March). It was the most serious disaster in recent years in the mountains of South Tyrol: six people died, including a 16-year-old boy, a young nurse, a very experienced mountaineer, who had even climbed the Manaslu, and the general director of the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce.