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Italy avalanche: six people found alive in hotel rubble Italy avalanche: eight people found alive in hotel rubble
(35 minutes later)
Six people have been found alive in a ski resort hotel in central Italy that was flattened by a powerful avalanche on Wednesday, Italian officials have said. Eight people, including two children, have been found alive in a ski resort hotel in central Italy that was flattened by a powerful avalanche on Wednesday.
“Six people are alive and rescue workers are going to get them out,” Federica Chiavaroli, a junior minister at the justice department, told reporters in the town of Penne, where the rescue effort is being coordinated. Five survivors, including one young girl and a woman thought to be her mother, were to be flown by helicopter to a hospital in Pescara suffering from hypothermia, officials told reporters in the town of Penne, from where the rescue effort is being coordinated. Rescuers are digging to free the others.
Crews have been digging by hand in the search for at least 30 people believed trapped after the devastating avalanche on Wednesday afternoon. Two bodies have been recovered, and Italian state media reported another two had been located in the snow. “Finding these people gives us further hope there are other survivors,” said Titti Postiglione, a civil protection agency official.
The search and rescue operation has been hampered by snow blocking the only road to the Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola and fears of triggering a fresh avalanche. Up to 34 guests, staff and visitors are believed to have been inside the Rigopiano hotel, in the picturesque ski resort of Farindola, when the avalanche hit.
A convoy of rescue vehicles made slow progress to the hotel, blocked by snow piled three metres (10ft) high in some places, fallen trees and rocks. The survivors were discovered after a 42-hour search in treacherous weather conditions. It is understood they were found in the kitchen area of the hotel, located about 1,200 metres above sea level in the lower Gran Sasso mountain range.
Two people escaped the devastation and called for help but it took hours for responders to arrive at the remote hotel. The first rescue teams had arrived on skis early on Thursday, and firefighters were dropped in by helicopter. By late Thursday, only 25 vehicles had arrived, along with 135 rescue workers, and civil protection authorities said part of the night was spent trying to widen the road. Anxious relatives have been waiting for news in the hospital in Penne.
Five deaths have been confirmed so far. The bodies of three victims were removed from the hotel on Thursday. Two hotel guests managed to escape because they were outside the building when the avalanche struck.
Days of heavy snowfall had knocked out electricity and phone lines in many central Italian towns and hamlets, and the hotel phones went down early on Wednesday, just as the first of four powerful earthquakes struck the region.Days of heavy snowfall had knocked out electricity and phone lines in many central Italian towns and hamlets, and the hotel phones went down early on Wednesday, just as the first of four powerful earthquakes struck the region.
It was not clear if the quakes triggered the avalanche. Emergency responders said the force of the massive snow slide collapsed a wing of the hotel that faced the mountain and rotated another off its foundations, pushing it downhill.It was not clear if the quakes triggered the avalanche. Emergency responders said the force of the massive snow slide collapsed a wing of the hotel that faced the mountain and rotated another off its foundations, pushing it downhill.
“The situation is catastrophic,” said Marshall Lorenzo Gagliardi of the Alpine rescue service, who was among the first at the scene. “The mountain-facing side is completely destroyed and buried by snow: the kitchen, hotel rooms, hall.” The quakes struck near Amatrice, one of the towns destroyed by an earthquake in August that left almost 300 people dead and thousands homeless. Two powerful tremors struck the area in late October, but nobody died because the inhabited areas affected had already been evacuated.
One of the survivors reported that the guests had all checked out and were waiting for the road to be cleared to be able to leave. The snow plough scheduled for mid-afternoon never arrived and the avalanche hit at about 5.30pm on Wednesday.One of the survivors reported that the guests had all checked out and were waiting for the road to be cleared to be able to leave. The snow plough scheduled for mid-afternoon never arrived and the avalanche hit at about 5.30pm on Wednesday.
Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation into the tragedy, and among the hypotheses being pursued is whether the avalanche threat was not taken seriously enough, according to Italian media.Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation into the tragedy, and among the hypotheses being pursued is whether the avalanche threat was not taken seriously enough, according to Italian media.
The Farindola mayor, Ilario Lacchetta, estimated that more than 30 people were unaccounted for: the hotel had 24 guests, four of them children, and 12 employees were onsite. The Farindola mayor, Ilario Lacchetta, estimated on Thursday that more than 30 people were unaccounted for: the hotel had 24 guests, four of them children, and 12 employees were onsite.
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the country had experienced an “unprecedented vice of frost and earthquakes”. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, said “an earthquake in Italy is an earthquake in Europe”.
Associated Press contributed to this report