Experts are growing concerned that climate change could cause Italy's Mont Blanc Planpincieux glacier to collapse.
A team of experts has monitored the glacier for a decade and have found firm evidence of an increase in temperatures and detachment of ice on the mountain.
If temperatures continue to rise and the ice separates, then it could collapse on the town of Courmayeur, in the Aosta Valley below, causing deaths and widespread devastation.
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Valerio Segor, the Aosta Valley region's director of natural risk management, said to AFP: "Over the past decade we have noticed an acceleration of movements, which are more and more important and for sure related to climate change.
"We have an important rise of temperatures and this causes a more rapid formation of the subglacial water flow, an important underground circulation of water, as the glacier slowly, slowly withdraws, leading towards a tendency of collapses."
In August last year, 65 people were evacuated from their homes after a warning from the same experts that 500,000 cubic meters of ice could fall on Courmayeur.
Experts are concerned that Italy's Mont Blanc Planpincieux glacier could melt and collapse on the valley below because of warmer temperatures caused by climate change. /AFP
Glaciologists are monitoring changes on a daily basis and say they have recorded movements of 150cm in the glacier per day.
In the meantime, safety measures are being put in place in case of a major emergency.
Valerio Segor added: "We have scenarios [in terms of security for the Val Ferret below the Planpincieux glacier] that involve small limitations like the closure of hiking paths [on the mountain], up to more extreme scenarios in case of a collapse of an 800,000-meter cube of ice, which would affect a big part of the Planpincieux village and the road at the bottom of the valley [Val Ferret]."