A massive rockslide has buried a road in South Tyrol and narrowly missed a bus. Holidaymakers are now trapped in the valley.
In the South Tyrolean holiday region of Vinschgau, a massive rockslide almost caused a tragedy on Wednesday, June 5th. As the “tz.de” reports, several boulders weighing several tons broke off from the western valley slope and fell onto the main road that leads to the popular Schnalstal valley. At exactly that moment, a bus was passing through the tunnel near the village of Neuratheis.
The incident occurred below the residence of mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner at Juval Castle. According to reports from “Südtirol News”, one of the large boulders landed in front of a bus with around 20 passengers that was just before the end of the tunnel. Other drivers were also lucky enough to be able to avoid the accident. According to “tz.de”, no one was injured in the incident.
The road had to be closed initially. The head of the road construction department of the province of South Tyrol, Philipp Sicher, described the situation in Schnals in an interview with “tz.de” as “very complex”. There are small cave-ins and geologists are in the process of assessing the situation.
“There will then be a meeting about how to proceed, which means that the road will remain closed until further notice until we have been able to define a suitable measure as to how the road can be safely reopened to traffic,” the official explained to “tz.de”.
For the tourists currently staying in the valley’s hotels and restaurants, the rockfall means that they cannot leave the valley for the time being. According to Philipp Sicher, there is no alternative route. New entries are also not possible. The valley, known for its natural beauty and as the location of the Ötzi Museum, is therefore temporarily cut off from the outside world.
This incident is not the first of its kind. In May, a rockfall blocked the road to the Schnalstal. The Danube riverside road in Aggsbach, Austria, and a riverside road on Lake Garda have also been hit by rockfalls in the past.
At the beginning of April, a similar incident occurred in Taiwan, in which a driver narrowly escaped death. An earthquake caused huge boulders to break off from a hillside and roll down it, heading straight towards a road. The driver’s dashcam filmed the lucky break.
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