How long does Is it necessary to identify the helmet of a hiker lost in an 183-hectare mountain area, analyzing 2,600 frames taken by a drone of about 50 meters away? If done with human eye, weeks or months. If analyzed by an Artificial intelligence system, one afternoon. The National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, known to its Italian initialism Cnsas, Trust AI to find the body of a man missing in the Piedmont region of Italy on the north face of Monviso – the highest peak in the Cottian Alps – since September 2024.
According to Saverio Isola, the pilot of Drone CNSAS, who intervened with his colleague Giorgio Viana, the operation – including seeking any sign of the missing hiker, the discovery and recovery of his body and cessation due to bad weather – left less than three days.
The recovery operations
With his back to the ground, his gaze fixed on the mountains, 600 meters below the tip, the body of 64-year-old Ligurian physician Nicola Ivaldo was found in the morning on Thursday, July 31, more than 10 months after his disappearance, thanks to his helmet, which conflicted with the rest of the landscape.
“It was the AI software, which identified some pixels of a different color in the images made on Tuesday,” explains isola, rebuilding step by step of the operation, which led to the discovery and recovery of the remains located at an altitude of about 3,150 meters, in the right glory, which is higher of the three ravations.
The team collected all pictures in five hours with only two drones in the morning of Tuesday, July 29, and analyzed them with AI software during the afternoon of the same day. By that evening, the rescuers already had a series of “suspicious points” to check. Only fog and bad weather the next day delayed the operations.
“We woke up at 4 o’clock to reach a very distant point with good visibility on the channel, where the red pixels were detected, and we used the drone to see if it was actually the helmet,” says Isola. “Then we took all the necessary photos and measurements, sending the information to the Backup Coordination Center, which was then able to send the fire brigade helicopter for the recovery and police operations.”
The role of ai
Each drone operation is part of a rigorous method developed by CNSAs in coordination with ENACThe National Agency, which controls civil aviation. “We have been using drones for about five years, and for about a year and a half we integrate colorful and formative recognition technologies, developing them a month after a month,” isolated explains. “But all this would be useless without the teams of technicians.”
Information from Ivaldo’s cellphone was immediately worthless. The two drone pilots who sailed the area were assisted by the experience and knowledge of four experienced mountain rescuers. “It’s a human achievement, but without technology, it would be an impossible mission. It’s a team success,” Isola said.
