04-08-2025
British tourist ignores landslide signs, then needs rescue in Italy, officials say
A British hiker ignored warning signs after a landslide and then called for a dangerous rescue in the Italian Alps, officials say.
A landslide in July on Croda Marcora closed the Berti Via Ferrata trail from both access points in northeastern Italy, and rocks continued to fall, according to a July 31 Facebook post from alpine rescue group Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico Veneto.
The trail was closed after two Belgium hikers were rescued on July 19, officials said, and other hikers attempting the trail found it dangerous.
Signs marked the closed trail, but on July 31, a 60-year-old tourist from the United Kingdom passed the signs and set out on the trail, according to the post.
By that afternoon, the man called the rescue group and said rocks were falling from higher up on the mountain and that he needed rescue, officials said.
He was told to shelter in place while the mountain was shrouded in clouds until rescuers could get a clear view from above, according to the post.
The first helicopter, Falco 2, was able to get in the air and find his exact location before it was rerouted to another emergency, rescue officials said.
A second helicopter, Leone, confirmed the hiker was in the middle of the landslide zone at about 7,900 feet and just two hours after the initial call, a rescue team pulled the hiker to safety, according to the post.
The hiker's problems, however, didn't end there, Italian emergency services told The Telegraph.
The man was fined 14,000 euros, or about $16,000, by the rescue services for ignoring what they said were clearly marked signs, both in Italian and English, according to The Telegraph.
Photos of signage posted on Facebook show phrases like 'Warning!' and 'trail closed,' as well as 'stay safe, do not go beyond this warning.'
The massive fine comes because the hiker was 'in a place where they shouldn't be' and they were 'unharmed with no health issue' when he needed the rescue, a national rescue service official told The Telegraph.
The fee is also higher for the British national since the United Kingdom left the European Union, and would have been smaller for an Italian climber, according to the outlet.
Officials said they added more signs, including additional signs in German, on the closed trail, The Telegraph reports. Chat GPT, an AI chatbot, was used to translate the Facebook post from the Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico Veneto.
