Accidents on Stromboli volcano

31. October 1997: Accident without an eruption

Report by Pierre Cottens

«A couple from Tcheckia started to climb the volcano in the afternoon of 31.October 1997. Conditions were poor: cloudy and very windy on the top. At 16:00 the woman decided to return. However, the husband continued for, as he said to her, a little bit. He get lost in the fog, could not return and, finally, was surprised by the dark.

After it had become clear on Friday morning that he was lost, the rescue team of Stromboli started a search. They were supported by helicopters from the Carabinieri and the Navy. Friday afternoon we flew along the Sciara del Fuoco. Unfortunately the helicopter I was in had to go land after 20 minutes flight due to technical problems. Nino Zerilli was in the second one and they continued for one hour without success.

The search continued on Saturday and Sunday with helicopters, dogs, people from the fire brigade, the «Guardia di Finanza» and «Carabinieri». On Sunday, briefly after midday, a yellow object was discovered on the Forgia Vecchia side. It turned out to be a flashlight. Finally the body of the man was found. He had fallen down a cliff about 50-70 meters high.

Talking to the victim's wife we discovered that, when setting off to climb Stromboli, they had no maps, one litre of water only, no food and just one single flashlight. It is important to realise that the accident was caused by bad weather and the inexperience of the hiker, not any unusual state of the volcano.»