There are rumours that the three crew members who wen south in search of land - Malmgreen, Mariano and Zappi - have been picked up by the steamer Hobby.
Good news perhaps! The correspondent of The Scotsman reports that there is a talk that trappers (whom the correspondent curiously refers to as Eskimos!) on the Spitsbergen island of Nordaustlandet (Northeast Land) have seen that the three members of the Italia crew – Malmgren, Mariano and Zappi – who set out from the crash site to walk south have been picked up by a sledge party from the steamer Hobby and taken on board.
The rumour is yet unconfirmed, but if true it seems that the three really were able to make their way south under the leadership of Finn Malmgren who is familiar with the Arctic region.
On the ground the reality is very different. Malmgreen, Mariano and Zappi have made only slow progress south and have not yet even reached Foyn Island. All are exhausted, and Malmgren can go no further. He asks to be left behind on the ice to die. Mariano and Zappi scoop out a shallow hollow in the ice and Malmgren lies down, bidding his colleagues farewell.
The Dornier Wal plane has reached Lausanne and the Italian seaplane leaves today from Vadsø for King's Bay. Both planes could be crucial to any rescue effort.
As Reuter reports, Captain Roald Amundsen will set off as soon as possible to the Arctic in a French seaplane. He will join in the rescue operations for the Italia. Amundsen hopes to be able to leave Oslo tomorrow for Bergen, from where he will head north to Tromsø and then on to King's Bay in Spitsbergen.