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| Rigopiano Hotel avalanche: Five bodies found, 15 still missing | Rigopiano Hotel avalanche: Five bodies found, 15 still missing |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Five more bodies have been found in the ruins of the mountain hotel in Italy engulfed by an avalanche six days ago. | Five more bodies have been found in the ruins of the mountain hotel in Italy engulfed by an avalanche six days ago. |
| In the past few hours, the bodies of three men and two women have been recovered, reports say, bringing the total number of victims to 14. | In the past few hours, the bodies of three men and two women have been recovered, reports say, bringing the total number of victims to 14. |
| But 15 people remain unaccounted for and rescuers say there is still a faint hope that some could be alive. | But 15 people remain unaccounted for and rescuers say there is still a faint hope that some could be alive. |
| Firefighters are trying to punch a hole through an 80cm (2 ft 7 in) concrete wall into the hotel bar. | Firefighters are trying to punch a hole through an 80cm (2 ft 7 in) concrete wall into the hotel bar. |
| "We are working on the theory that the avalanche did not necessarily hit or destroy every room and that we haven't yet reached the heart of the structure," said spokesman Luca Cari. | |
| He said rescuers were working around the clock and still hoped to find survivors. So far, 11 people have been found alive. | |
| The funerals of some of the victims will take place in the coming hours. | |
| More questions | |
| Rescuers had been able to excavate a path into the hotel which allows access for heavy machinery, Mr Cari said. | |
| They will now try to create a shaft through the 80cm concrete wall dividing the bar from the kitchen, in the hope that there could be an air pocket - and possible survivors - in the space behind. | |
| Italian President Sergio Mattarella has called for a "united effort and common front in the face of disaster". But further concerns have been raised about the emergency services' handling of the disaster. | |
| Some relatives of the missing have already complained that the hotel should already have been evacuated before the avalanche hit the hotel late on Wednesday afternoon. | |
| Now details have emerged of an emergency phone call between a restaurant owner and a senior official at the local authority co-ordinating rescues in Pescara. A transcript has been published by Italian daily La Repubblica. | |
| At 18:20, shortly after the hotel's collapse, Quintino Marcello tells the official that his chef, Giampiero Parete, who was staying at the Rigopiano, contacted him on Whatsapp five minutes before. | |
| "The Rigopiano hotel has collapsed, there's nothing left. He's there with his wife and little children. Act immediately. Go up there!" | |
| But Repubblica says the official insists the hotel is fine and that the fire brigade checked it out during the morning. It was a barn containing sheep at a farm that had collapsed, the official says. | |
| Mr Parete had already contacted emergency services some time before, Repubblica says, but they checked with the hotel owner, Bruno di Tommaso, who was not at the scene and told them he was unaware of an avalanche. |