Misery elsewhere Avalanche in Italy Buries Hotel, Leaving up to 30 Missing.

[elleng]

'As many as 30 people were missing after an avalanche barreled into a mountainside hotel in central Italy, civil protection officials said on Thursday, a day after four earthquakes struck the region, which has been hit hard in recent months.

The latest seismic activity, which prompted officials to close schools and the subway system in Rome as a precaution, shifted the nation’s attention back to areas in central Italy that were devastated by a series of temblors last year, leading to criticism that victims had been left to fend for themselves.

Fabrizio Curcio, the chief of the civil protection department, told RAI News that search-and-rescue teams had reached the hotel but that the situation there presented an enormous challenge.

Rescue workers, including dog units, were moving with caution he said, and some emergency-response teams reported no signs of survivors.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/world/europe/italy-avalanche.html

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Italy avalanche rescuers: we've called out but heard no replies, no voices

Up to 30 people missing at hotel in Abruzzo ski resort after avalanche buries building following series of earthquakes

Barely 24 hours earlier, the management of the hotel in the picturesque Italian ski resort of Farindola, three hours east of Rome, had tweeted: “A dream Tuesday ... The snow is giving us spectacular scenery!”

But by Thursday afternoon authorities held out little hope of finding anyone left alive after an avalanche buried the four-storey building with its eight staff and 20 guests, including several children, inside.

They were reported to have assembled on the ground floor on Wednesday awaiting an evacuation after a series of earthquakes had rocked the area during the day, but it was delayed because of the bad weather. Then the avalanche hit.

Amid treacherous weather conditions, rescue workers and sniffer dogs continued their search on Thursday at the four-star Rigopiano hotel in the lower Gran Sasso mountain range of the central Abruzzo region.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/19/italy-earthquakes-avalanche-hotel