Alpine glacier in Italy threatens valley, forces evacuations

Experts were closely monitoring a Mont Blanc glacier on Friday, a day after y evacuated 75 tourists and residents amid fears glacier could soon break apart and crash into a popular Italian Alpine valley.

Valerio Segor, a glacier expert in Valle d’Aosta, a region in rthwestern Italy, told reporters on Friday that next 72 hours were critical for Planpincieux Glacier, which lies under a massif on Italian side of Mont Blanc, highest mountain in Alps.

Those forced to evacuate came from homes and holiday lodgings in Ferret Valley in show of glacier. Tourists on Friday were barred from entering scenic valley.

glacier’s size has been likened to that of a soccer field under a 80-meter (265-foot) high mass of ice. Abrupt shifts in temperature from hot to cold to hot again are being blamed for precarious state of glacier, which Segor says has a stream of water running beneath it.

glacier’s state has been monitored since 2013. Last year saw similar concerns, but glacier held on to its grip on mountain at 2,600-2,800 meters (8,500-9,200 feet) of altitude.

Lately, Planpincieux has been creeping downward at rate of about 80-100 centimeters (32-40 inches) each day, Segor said.

Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted glacier expert Fabrizio Troilo as saying re is “ danger it could give way in an instant.”

Corriere said an Alpine refuge was still open for climbers who come from French side of Mont Blanc, which is kwn in Italy as Monte Blanco.