Avalanche buries Italian hotel, rescuers say ‘many dead’

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ROME – Italian rescuers dug frantically Thursday through a wall of snow and shattered trees that buried a resort hotel after an avalanche shaken loose by a string of earthquakes, trapping at 30 people including children. Officials fears many were dead.

Deep snow in the central Abruzzo region – which was also battered by major quakes last summer – slowed efforts to reach the Hotel Rigopiano, located off a hairpin-path alpine road at about 4,000 feet.

Some rescuers used skis, and others were dropped by helicopter after daybreak Thursday – a day after the quakes that triggered the snowslide.

“There are so many dead,” Antonio Crocetta of the local alpine rescue workers told state-run ANSA news agency. “The avalanche was huge.”

Plaintive text messages were earlier sent to emergency numbers by those buried inside, according to ANSA. At least two children were believed missing.

“Help, we’re dying of cold,” one couple wrote rescuers.

But some rescuers described only silence Thursday as they began struggled to move the tightly packed snow – littered with rocks and tree limbs – that covered half the four-star spa and resort and toppled walls.

Images from the scene showed hallways choked with snow, which also punched into the hotel lobby and buried tall peaked roofs.

“We’re dropping our rescue units down by helicopter and they are starting to dig,” Luca Cari, spokesman for the national fire brigades, told Reuters news agency.

A frosty mist, which had settled over the area, slowly began to lift.

“The mist is easing now,” said Antonio Marasco, an official with Italy’s road department. “And when the mist dissipates, the ugliness appears.”

Civil protection has said up to 30 people are missing. Two people were rescued outside the hotel and treated for hypothermia and evacuated by helicopter.

Among the survivors was 38-year-old Giampaolo Parete, who told rescuers he had gone to his car when the avalanche hit. His wife and two children were buried inside, ANSA reported.

“I saved myself because I’d gone to pick something up from the car,” said Giampaolo Parete, whose wife and children were still in the hotel. “The avalanche came and I was buried by snow but I managed to get out. The car was not buried, so I stayed there and waited for rescue operators.”

The mayor of the nearby town of Farindola said the toll could have been much worse if it had been a weekend and the hotel, which he called the “jewel of the region’s crown,” was packed with visitors in the remote Gran Sasso mountain range.

“Last Sunday the Hotel Rigopiano had 200 guests, staff included – yesterday there were between 20 and 30 people, including some kids,” Ilario Lacchetta told La Stampa newspaper.

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The earthquake-prone region was hit by at least three tremors around 5.7 magnitude on Wednesday, prompting the avalanche. There have also been heavy snowstorms throughout the area as well.

“Around here it does snow a lot but not even the elderly can remember such a thing. If you add the snowstorm to the earthquake, you can understand how it all became difficult – we face two tragedies that could not have been foreseen,” added Lacchetta.

Primo di Nicola, editor of the local newspaper Il Centro, said rescue teams were trying to get heavy equipment to the hotel, but roads were blocked by snow and toppled trees. He described some of the Abruzzo region as “basically offline.”

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“No water, no power, inaccessible roads,” he told The Washington Post.

Central Italy has been struck by several earthquakes since August when the historic centers of many towns were leveled, killing 300. There were also substantial aftershocks in October.

Featured Image: AP


(c) 2017, The Washington Post

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