(Milan) A 56-year-old Canadian woman has died after being trapped in a sudden snowstorm in the Dolomites, Italy, while her companion was treated for severe hypothermia, the Italian Alpine Rescue Corps said Friday.
The two hikers, exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, called for help Thursday evening after being hit by the snowstorm about two kilometres from a mountain hut.
The hikers were not identified by name or hometown.
Rescuers reached them, but bad weather thwarted two attempts to evacuate the woman, whose condition was worsening, by helicopter. She later died on the mountain.
Rescuers set up a tent and sheltered the 56-year-old hiker overnight until the storm cleared and a helicopter could rescue him early Friday. He was being treated at a hospital in the northern Italian city of Bolzano.