Photo: reproduction
Between Sunday (17) and Monday (18) at least 14 tourists fell into Lake Braies, one of the most famous in northern Italy, while walking on its frozen surface.
The most serious incident happened last Monday when an Italian couple from the province of Milan and their fourmonthold son sank in the lake 50 meters from the shore.
Seeing the fall, a 44yearold Albanian man jumped into the water to help his family and managed to save the baby’s life. The couple and the boy were taken to a hospital with hypothermia but not lifethreatening.
On the same day, four other people fell into the water at different times on the frozen surface.
In addition, the fire brigade had already carried out two operations on Easter Sunday to save six people who had fallen into the Pragser Wildsee.
It is common for lakes in the far north of Italy to become places for hiking and ice skating in winter when their surfaces are frozen. However, rising temperatures with the onset of spring are making the ice sheets more and more fragile.
“Appearances can be deceiving. At the moment, the cold is not intense enough to allow safe entry into the ice,” warned the Italian fire brigade.
The Pragser Wildsee is located in Bozen, the northernmost province of Italy, at almost 1,500 meters above sea level. The crystalclear waters and scenery surrounded by snowcapped mountains have made it a soughtafter tourist destination in the Italian Alps.