DEATHS IN THE ALPS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1931, Page 14

DEATHS IN THE ALPS

AVALANCHE AND BLIZZARD. London, January 28. Death by avalanche and blizzard overcame 21 members of the Third Alpine Regiment in intensely dramatic cir- i cumstances on a mountain above Bardonecchia, Italy. The Alpini were descending to the valley, says the Milan correspondent of < the Times, when an. avalanche 5000 i yards wide broke away from Mount San i Michele and rushed down the right side of the valley with a terrifying roar, i It surged: up .the left, side and swept ]

away and’buried the head of the Alpini column. '■ ■■■ ■' ~■' ' - The survivors, forced io reascend to refuge in th? teeth of a raging blizzard, arrived at night timq utterly exhausted. Next morning, a sergeant-major and a small squad started to descend and advise the command at Bardonecchia. They were caught in a . snowstorm and three soldiers lost touch and perished. Meanwhile the rest of the company began to descend from their refuge. They had just reached the. scene of the previous day’s tragedy when a snowslide began among the piled-up remains of the avalanche. , ... A’' captain, lieutenant, two sergeants and.five men were sucked into a whirl-pool-of snow and vanished.