Elderly Swiss man busted with gun at Phuket Airport

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Avalanche hits Italy hotel, many feared dead or injured

REUTERS

 

PENNE, Italy (Reuters) - An avalanche hit a small hotel in the mountains of central Italy overnight after a series of strong earthquakes in the area, and up to 30 people might be buried under the snow, officials said on Wednesday.

 

"Around 30 people are unaccounted for, between guests and workers at the Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola," Fabrizio Curcio, head of Italy's civil protection department, was quoted as saying by Italian media.

 

Other officials said it was too early to say if anyone might have died, with the rescue operation hampered by up to 5 metres (16.4 ft) of snow which has fallen on the Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region in recent days.

 

"We’re dropping our rescue units down by helicopter and they are starting to dig," said Luca Cari, spokesman for the national fire brigades.

 

Italian media earlier reported that "many dead" had been found inside the hotel. However officials in the area denied the report.

 

(Reporting by Philip Pullella, Valentina Consiglio and Steve Scherer, editing by Crispian Balmer)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-01-19

[lopburi3]

Actually from photos I would not call it small - a 4 story mountain 4 star hotel.

https://goo.gl/maps/JZ7E3L29KpK2

[mercman24]

a great shame, r.i.p., it looks beautiful but there is a dam huge hill (mountain) behind it

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Hopes fade of finding survivors buried under avalanche in Italy

By Roberto Mignucci

REUTERS

 

An aerial view shows Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola, central Italy, hit by an avalanche, in this January 19, 2017 handout picture provided by Italy's firefighters. Vigili del Fuoco/Handout via REUTERS

 

PENNE, Italy (Reuters) - Hopes of finding survivors dwindled on Thursday more than 24 hours after an avalanche struck a luxury mountain hotel in Italy burying up to 30 people under tonnes of snow and debris.

 

The Civil Protection department said just two bodies had been recovered but its chief said the search for victims and possible survivors would continue through the night.

 

"There is always hope, if there were no hope the rescuers wouldn't give everything they've got," Fabrizio Curcio told reporters. He said his teams would "continue to do everything possible during the night," even though conditions were far more difficult than in daytime.

 

The disaster struck hours after four earthquakes with a magnitude above 5 hit central Italy.

 

Titti Postiglione, head of the department's emergency office, said more snow could fall from peaks in the Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region because the temperature was rising, while further quakes were possible.

 

"This is an enormously complex rescue operation," she said.

 

The gabled peaks of parts of the roof and a row of windows were the only sections of the four-storey Hotel Rigopiano visible after the wall of snow smashed into the four-star spa resort on Wednesday evening.

 

"This is a tragedy of enormous proportions," said Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin.

 

Local authorities said about 30 people had been in the building at the time, including two children. The only survivors found were two men who had been outside when the disaster struck.

 

"The hotel is almost completely destroyed. We've called out but we've heard no replies, no voices," said Antonio Crocetta, a member of the Alpine Rescue squad.

 

"We're digging and looking for people," he told Reuters by phone from the isolated location.

 

SNOW DRIFTS

 

Rescue workers entered what appeared to be a lobby decorated with oil paintings and plants, where a landslide had torn through a wall, television footage showed.

 

Mattresses and furniture were spotted dozens of metres (yards) away and sniffer dogs were helping with the search.

 

"I am alive because I went to get something from my car," Giampiero Parete told medical staff. Italian media said he had been on holiday with his wife and two children, who are missing.

 

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni called for national unity, saying Italy was caught in an "unprecedented vice" of earthquakes and heavy snows.

 

The rescue operation was hampered by deep snow which has fallen on the Gran Sasso in recent days. Drifts made snow as deep as five metres (16 feet) in some places and snow ploughs struggled to cut a path up winding mountain roads.

 

The first rescuers arrived at 4.30 a.m. (0330 GMT) after having to ski through a blizzard to reach the site. After dawn broke, emergency services sent in helicopters.

 

A base camp for rescue workers was set up in the town of Penne, some 10 km (6 miles) away, where ambulances waited.

 

The avalanche shunted the 43-room hotel, which is 1,200 metres (4,000 ft) above sea level, about 10 metres down the hill, according to media reports.

 

Italian media said guests at the hotel had checked out and were waiting for a snow plough to arrive to open up the road and let them down the mountain when the avalanche struck.

 

(Reporting by Philip Pullella, Valentina Consiglio, Steve Scherer and Gavin Jones; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-01-20