ROME: Several children were among the missing on Thursday after a devastating avalanche buried an Italian mountain hotel with more than 25 people believed to be trapped inside.
The prospects of anyone being rescued alive from the ill-fated Hotel Rigopiano were bleak, as rescue efforts were hampered by heavy snow that had blocked access roads to the remote site. The three-storey building was hit by a two-metre high wall of snow late on Wednesday afternoon. The first rescue workers only reached the remote site in the early hours of Thursday and it was midday by the time a snow plough and the first mechanical excavation equipment got there.
As many as 35 firemen and sniffer dogs combed the rubble; officials said one body had been recovered. “We are trying our best to recover other bodies,” said fire service spokesman Luca Cari. When asked if there was any hope of survivors, he said, “You never know. The building was basically run over by the avalanche leaving it buried. I saw mattresses that had been dragged for hundreds of metres, which shows how big the search area is. There are tonnes of snow, tree trunks and all kinds of detritus.”
Italian television showed images of piles of masonry and rubble in the entrance area of what they dubbed a ‘coffin hotel’.