Italians evacuated from the Alps amid fears of Mont Blanc glacier collapse

Residents and tourists are being evacuated from a valley in the Italian part of Mont Blanc, in the Alps, amid fears that a huge chunk of mountain glacier could break off due to high temperatures.

Some 75 people were evacuated from the northwestern Italian town of Courmayeur on Thursday after the Safe Mountains Foundation warned that a staggering 500,000 cubic metres of ice could break away from the Planpincieux glacier within the Mont Blanc massif at any moment.

Comparing the precarious chunk of ice to Milan's cathedral or a football pitch, Valerio Segor, director of the natural risk management service for the Aosta Valley region said the falling ice could cause an avalanche.

"Any fall would be capable of considerable damage and also travel a long way," he said.

As a precautionary measure, Mayor Stefano Miserocchi ordered roads in the Val Ferret valley, outside of Courmayeur, to be shut and mountain huts in the Rochefort area to be evacuated.

"The evacuation was urgent and imperative," Miserocchi told reporters. "The situation foresees a high alert in the next 72 hours."

The region was already evacuated in 2019 due to the threat posed by the glacier, but experts say the portion now at risk of breaking off is twice the size as last year.

Melting fast
Alpine glaciers are disappearing at an alarming rate as a result of rising global temperatures.

Most estimates suggest that 50 percent of their mass has vanished in the past century, and scientists put the blame on warming temperatures.

• Climate change devastating glaciers in French Alps

The Planpincieux glacier at risk of breaking away is located in the Alps on the Grande Jorasses peak of the Mont Blanc massif, which straddles the borders of Italy, France and Switzerland. It contains the highest peak in Western Europe and is popular with hikers, climbers and skiers.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called the melting of glaciers around the mountain range, “irrefutable proof of global warming and climate change" and said protecting them was the "fight of the century."

France, which shares the Mont Blanc with Italy, is to experience a heatwave in the coming days with temperatures as high as 39°C expected on Saturday in the east of the country.