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At Least 10 Survivors Found at Site of Italy Hotel Destroyed by Avalanche At Least 10 Survivors Found at Site of Italy Hotel Destroyed by Avalanche
(about 4 hours later)
ROME — With shouts of “Bravo!” and rounds of applause, rescue workers pulled a frigid but buoyant boy from the snow-covered rubble of an Italian hotel on Friday, one of at least 10 survivors found two days after an avalanche destroyed the building, officials said.ROME — With shouts of “Bravo!” and rounds of applause, rescue workers pulled a frigid but buoyant boy from the snow-covered rubble of an Italian hotel on Friday, one of at least 10 survivors found two days after an avalanche destroyed the building, officials said.
The boy, dressed in blue snow pants and a fleece shirt, appeared alert and able to walk on his own as rescuers workers tussled his hair, helped him to a stretcher and then set about retrieving his mother.The boy, dressed in blue snow pants and a fleece shirt, appeared alert and able to walk on his own as rescuers workers tussled his hair, helped him to a stretcher and then set about retrieving his mother.
“They were so happy,” one rescue worker, Marco Bini, told Sky TG24 about the pair. “Their faces lit up.”“They were so happy,” one rescue worker, Marco Bini, told Sky TG24 about the pair. “Their faces lit up.”
The boy and his mother were pulled from a hole cut through several feet of snow, debris and a concrete ceiling, officials said. Despair turned to hope on Friday morning when at least 10 people were found alive, including four children, at the site of the isolated hotel in the Apennine Mountains that was destroyed by the avalanche on Wednesday. By evening, several people had been pulled from the wreckage, but additional known survivors remained trapped beneath several tons of snow.
Workers in central Italy found the survivors at the site of an isolated hotel that was destroyed by an avalanche on Wednesday, officials said, but at least 20 others are missing. Mr. Bini said that the survivors had been found in an area above the hotel’s kitchen, and that they had lit a fire to keep warm. Two people, members of the Hotel Rigopiano staff, were found dead in the building’s wreckage and around 20 others were thought to remain missing.
The first contact with the survivors came around 11 a.m. local time, more than a day after the Hotel Rigopiano in the Apennine Mountains was buried under tons of snow, dirt and trees. Footage of the woman and her son being pulled by rescuers from a hole cut through several feet of snow, debris and a concrete ceiling, was broadcast around the world. A third member of the family, the boy’s sister, was rescued later in the day.
“In one room, there was a mother and her son; in the room next door, there were four people, but it was more difficult to reach them,” Luca Cari, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said by telephone. The woman, Adriana Parete, and her son, Gianfilippo, were found in an area above the hotel’s kitchen. “In one room, there was a mother and her son; in the room next door, there were four people, but it was more difficult to reach them,” Luca Cari, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said by telephone.
Officials said that finding survivors had lifted the spirits of search-and-rescue teams. Titti Postiglione, a spokeswoman for the civil protection department, called the news from the site “decidedly comforting,” Mr. Bini, the rescuer, said the mother and son “didn’t have a lot of space, and there was debris around them, but they were alive, they hung on, they were fortunate.”
The avalanche is believed to have been caused by a series of strong earthquakes in the region on Wednesday, and the chances of anyone surviving the harsh conditions and billowing snow had been considered remote. The pair were taken to a hospital in Pescara, where doctors said they were in satisfactory condition.
“They were a little dehydrated, but the situation is tranquil,” Dr. Tullio Spina, the hospital’s director, said at a televised news conference. He said they survived because they were warmly dressed and “had no direct contact with the snow.”
Ms. Parete and her children are the family of the hotel’s cook, who escaped seconds before the snowslide buried the hotel.
Four other rescued survivors, including two children, were identified as guests of the building.
“Edoardo Di Carlo is alive,” wrote the aunt of one of the rescued children on Facebook. His parents’ fates remain unknown. “Let’s hope that all the others are all alive,” she wrote.
The Rigopiano, a four-star hotel, had 43 rooms. It was not clear how many guests were staying there at the time of the avalanche, although most estimates put the number at about 30.The Rigopiano, a four-star hotel, had 43 rooms. It was not clear how many guests were staying there at the time of the avalanche, although most estimates put the number at about 30.
“It’s a very complex situation,” Ms. Postiglione said at a televised news conference, adding that the department’s avalanche experts were evaluating “potential risks to rescue operators.” The avalanche was believed to have been caused by a series of strong earthquakes in the region on Wednesday, but Italian prosecutors said they had opened a criminal investigation into an unnamed individual or individuals.
Television images showed ambulances rushing to the scene, which had been cut off by heavy snowfall, and snowplows clearing the road to the hotel, nestled in the Gran Sasso National Park, allowing through heavy machinery that would help rescue workers dig through the debris. “We have to understand if there are people who are responsible for the deaths,” said Cristina Tedeschini, a Pescara prosecutor, in an interview.
Early rescue efforts were slow, with the first help reaching the hotel early Thursday only after traveling more than five miles on skis and snowshoes. Improved weather conditions on Friday allowed helicopters carrying medics to travel to the hotel. Video on television showed ambulances rushing to the scene, which had been cut off by heavy snowfall, and snowplows clearing the road to the hotel, nestled in the Gran Sasso National Park, allowing through heavy machinery that would help rescue workers dig through the debris.
There was no additional information about the condition of the survivors, but Filippo Bubbico, the deputy interior minister, told a radio station that a young girl was among them. Early rescue efforts were slow, with the first workers reaching the hotel on Thursday only after traveling more than five miles on skis and snowshoes. Improved weather conditions on Friday enabled medics to travel to the hotel by helicopter.
Relatives of the missing waited for news at a hospital in the nearby town of Penne, in the province of Pescara. More than 130 rescue workers were at the scene on Friday, officials said. Some workers “dug, others had dogs, others crawled into spaces, others were specialized in identifying possible monoxide poisoning from stoves, everyone is doing their part,” said Lorenzo Gagliardi of the Italian Financial Police’s alpine unit.
Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the rescue efforts had been hindered by “unprecedented” difficulties, citing the heaviest snowfall in decades and the strong earthquakes on Wednesday. Rescuers, he said, were using equipment used to track mobile phones — normally used in organized crime investigations — to determine the location of survivors inside the hotel.
“If they give off a signal, there’s hope,” Mr. Gagliardi said. “We have to keep looking because people could be alive.”