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WARNING: Photo gallery contains material that may be graphic in nature. TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE, Italy — Glacier melt in Italy's Dolimites has revealed the bodies of two World War I soldiers, renewing concerns in the region about global warming.
The soldiers were members of an artillery unit in the Austro-Hungarian army, according to Italian news agency ANSA. They were trapped in snow and ice for nearly 100 years after being killed in May 1918 in a fierce battle with Italian forces.
Italy's warmest summer in nearly a decade melted the ice in which they were interred, though, revealing the soldiers' skeletons and fragments of their clothing, including military-issue boots. They were discovered on the Presena glacier — altitude 9,850 feet — in Italy's Trentino-Alto Adige region.
The discovery is the second of its kind this summer in the Dolimites. More than 200 WWI-era grenades were revealed in August due to glacier melt in the Dolimites. The discoveries have renewed concerns of global warming.
Glaciers throughout western Europe are melting at what scientists call an "alarming" rate, leaving not only Italy but Austria, Switzerland and France concerned about the effect of global warming on the Alps.
"In the worst case scenario, by the end of the century glaciers in the Alps will be reduced to 5–10 percent of what we have now," Michael Zemp, a scientist with the World Glacier Monitoring Service, told The Daily Telegraph.
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Zemp said even if climate change were to freeze at it today's rate, the glaciers would still be reduced by 10–30 percent by the end of the century. But he does not see this best-case scenario taking place.
"So far we have seen no progress in stopping climate change," he said. "It's not hopeless, but we need action right now."
For now, the focus is on the soldiers, as their remains were transported via helicopter to Vermiglio, a nearby small town. There they would wait to be transported for laboratory testing to a hospital in Vicenza, according to ANSA.
"The Presena glacier has been for 100 years the tomb of these soldiers, but unfortunately the melting of the ice has resulted in them emerging after all this time," Walter Belotti, a WWI historian, told the Telegraph.
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