Three killed in Italy’s avalanches

ROME - At least three people, including a Czech man, were killed in Italy Saturday in three separate incidents involving avalanches on the country’s Alps, news reports said.

The deaths brought to four the weekend’s toll and follow a spate of fatal accidents that have prompted the government to mull proposals to curb reckless behaviour such as off-track skiing in unstable snow conditions.

Experts say such activities are among the major causes of avalanches.

The Czech man, described by the ANSA news agency as a 44-year-old Prague resident, was skiing on the foothills of the 3,000 metre-high Mount Roisetta, in the northern Val d’Aosta region, when a slab of ice and snow crashed down the mountain.

In the morning, a skier was killed near Paganell, in the north-east Trentino-Alto Adige region, also after being buried in an avalanche.

In another accident in the same region, a man, who was identified in news reports as a member of Italy’s crack Alpini mountain troops, died shortly after rescuers dug him out of several metres of snow.

On Friday night, a 25-year-old man rescued from an avalanche in the Val di Scalve area near the city of Bergamo was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital.

The exact circumstances of the latest accidents were not immediately clear.

Italy’s conservative government is reportedly considered introducing a decree, backed by the country’s Civil Protection rescue services, in which people who fail to follow weather advisories in mountain areas are liable for fines.