Hopes are dwindling over 24 hours after an avalanche struck a luxury mountain hotel in Italy, burying at least 30 people under tons of snow and debris. So far, rescue authorities say they have recovered just two bodies.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca
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Many missing after avalanche hits Italian hotel
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Rescuers report no signs of life at a hotel buried by an avalanche in Italy. The Civil Protection agency's chief said the search for at least 30 victims and possible survivors would continue through Thursday night.
"There is always hope," Fabrizio Curcio said on Thursday. "If there were no hope, the rescuers wouldn't give everything they've got."
Two men survived. "I am alive because I went to get something from my car," Giampiero Parete told medical staff who treated him for hypothermia. Italian media reported that his wife and two children, thought to be Romanian citizens, remain missing.
The avalanche pushed the 43-room hotel 10 meters (33 feet) down the mountain. A resident described the avalanche for DW.
Nine of 47,000 aftershocks have measured a magnitude of at least 5. No one has died in the strong aftershocks, but many residents have also abandoned population centers.
'Don't really know'
Authorities urged patience as the recovery team responds to the tragic avalanche in Farindola. "We can confirm one survivor, but others may be trapped inside," a national fire rescue spokesman told DW. "We don't really know how many may be dead or alive at the moment. We are moving forward with rescue operations despite snowfall."
Titti Postiglione, head of the department's emergency office, said more snow could fall from peaks in the 2,912-meter Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region as the temperature rose, and that further quakes also remained possible. "This is an enormously complex rescue operation," she said.
The deep snow that has fallen on the Gran Sasso in recent days has hampered the effort. Drifts made snow as deep as 5 meters in some places, and snow ploughs have struggled to cut a path up winding mountain roads.
The first rescuers arrived at 4:30 a.m. (0330 UTC), after having to ski 7 kilometers (11.5 miles) through a blizzard to reach the site. After dawn broke, emergency services sent in helicopters.
"This is a tragedy of enormous proportions," Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said.
mkg/kl (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)
Italy thrashed by avalanches, earthquakes and snowfall
An avalanche has buried a hotel in the Italian region of Abruzzo. Authorities fear many of the tourists and staff members have been killed by the natural disaster, which comes on the heels of four powerul earthquakes.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/E. Vandeville
Buried under snow
An avalanche buried the Riopiano hotel (bottom right), the only one in the Gran Sasso National Park, with up to 30 guests and staff members inside. Despite efforts to rescue survivors, emergency services responding to the disaster reported no signs of life in the three-storey building.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca
An impossible trek
It took more than two hours for rescue teams to reach the buried hotel. Up to four meters of snow blocked the way, forcing fire fighters and civil protection personnel to figure out different ways through. First responders traveled by helipcopter, while others made the journey overland using cross-country skis.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Ansa/M. Guidelli
'Many dead'
The force of the avalanche moved parts of the hotel about ten meters (33 feet) from where it originally stood. After breaking through the wall of snow and entering the hotel, rescuers warned that there could be "many dead." At least three bodies have been pulled out. Two survivors escaped when they left the building minutes before the avalanche.
While emergency services created camps to base their search operations, heavy snow continued to fall. A national fire rescue spokesman told DW that they would continue to move forward with their operations, despite the weather. Other parts of the region experienced up to four meters of snow, knocking down powerlines and leaving thousands of people without heat or light.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ropi
Rescue efforts elsewhere
In other parts of the Abruzzo region and its surrounding areas in Marche and Lazio, authorities worked together to rescue isolated individuals, trapped in their homes due to the snow. In Campotosto, the government deployed the military to assist with the evacuation of certain houses. Rescue efforts were intensified in the wake of four powerful earthquakes that shook the region.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Latta
A year of disasters
In Amatrice and nearby areas, where nearly 300 people were killed in a devastating earthquake in August, heavy snow and earthquakes continued to unsetlle the ruined village. Former residents, housed in temporary shelters nearby, have considered vacating for good due to the harsh winter and tremors that continue to plague the area.
