Rescuers say up to 30 people are missing after a hotel in central Italy was hit by an avalanche, apparently triggered by an earthquake.
Rescuers battled overnight to reach the Rigopiano hotel, with the first of them arriving on skis. Snow dislodged by the avalanche had blocked the roads in.
One person has been pulled dead from the snow. At least three came out alive but most others appear still buried.
One official said there were "many dead" in the hotel.
Italy avalanche: 'Many missing' in Rigopiano hotel in Abruzzo
BBC News
19 January 2017
An aerial view of the Rigopiano hotel after it was hit by the avalanche
Rescuers say up to 30 people are missing after a hotel in central Italy was hit by an avalanche, apparently triggered by an earthquake.
Rescuers battled overnight to reach the Rigopiano hotel, with the first of them arriving on skis. Snow dislodged by the avalanche had blocked the roads in.
One person has been pulled dead from the snow. At least three came out alive but most others appear still buried.
One official said there were "many dead" in the hotel.
The mountainous region of central Italy was hit by a succession of four earthquakes on Wednesday and further tremors were reported overnight.
The quakes have compounded problems resulting from recent storms, which have brought down power lines and cut off villages.
Rescue operations are under way in other parts of the region as well.
What happened?
The roof on the four-star spa hotel, close to the Gran Sasso mountain in the Abruzzo region, partly collapsed on Wednesday night.
Rescuers said at least 20 tourists and seven staff were inside at the time, among them children.
Local residents in Farindola alerted emergency services.
"There are many deaths," Antonio Crocetta, the head of a mountain rescue team, was quoted as saying earlier this morning.
Italian media reported that some guests at the hotel had been able to send text messages after they were trapped.
Snow and debris has smashed into the foyer of the hotel
Rescuers have struggled to reach the hotel
"Help, we're dying of cold," Ansa news agency quoted one couple as saying.
Two people were found alive outside the damaged building, which was surrounded by fallen trees. They were taken to hospital, one suffering from hypothermia.
One of them, Giampiero Parete, said he had gone to get something from his car when the avalanche hit.
"I was covered by the snow but I managed to get out. The car was not submerged and I waited for the rescuers to arrive," he said, quoted by Ansa.
He added that his wife and two children were under the rubble.
How has the rescue effort gone?
A snowstorm and blocked routes have made access to the hotel difficult. Vehicles struggled to get through the snow, and some rescuers eventually resorted to skis.
Italian media said the first rescuers only reached the hotel on skis at 04:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Thursday.
Video footage showed them shovelling through a wall of snow.
The civil protection agency said it was now trying to get rescue vehicles to the hotel.
The first victim, a man, was pulled out at about 09:30, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
Speaking at midday GMT, Italian Red Cross spokesman Tomaso Della Longa told the BBC he had heard that "in the last few minutes one or two persons have been found alive".
The situation was changing "minute by minute" and there was still hope of finding more survivors, he added.
How did this come about?
Wednesday's quakes came after the regions of Abruzzo, Marche and Lazio were hit by days of heavy snow.
The Hotel Rigopiano was a luxury resort before the avalanche
One person in the area died on Wednesday and another was reported missing.
The same region was hit by an earthquake on 24 August, when 298 people died.
Another earthquake in October killed no-one, as most of the population centres had been evacuated.
Since then, the region has been hit by cold weather and snowstorms.
Analysis: Why so many quakes in Italy?
By Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent
The Apennines region saw three magnitude-6 tremors between August and October. A succession of quakes like this is often how the geology works.
The big picture is reasonably well understood. Wider tectonic forces in the Earth's crust have led to the Apennines being pulled apart at a rate of roughly 3mm per year - about a 10th of the speed at which your fingernails grow.
But this stress is then spread across a multitude of different faults that cut through the mountains. And this network is fiendishly complicated.
It does now look as though August's event broke two neighbouring faults, starting on one known as the Laga and then jumping across to one called the Vettore.
Then came October with a swathe of quakes that broke the rest of the Vetorre. But the stress, according to the seismologists, wasn't just sent north, it was loaded south as well - south of August's event.
And it's in this zone that we have now seen a series of quakes in recent days. About a dozen magnitude fours and fives.
Are you in the area or have you been affected by this incident? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
Italy avalanche: 'Many missing' in Rigopiano hotel in Abruzzo - BBC News
Rescuers battled overnight to reach the Rigopiano hotel, with the first of them arriving on skis. Snow dislodged by the avalanche had blocked the roads in.
One person has been pulled dead from the snow. At least three came out alive but most others appear still buried.
One official said there were "many dead" in the hotel.
Italy avalanche: 'Many missing' in Rigopiano hotel in Abruzzo
BBC News
19 January 2017
An aerial view of the Rigopiano hotel after it was hit by the avalanche
Rescuers say up to 30 people are missing after a hotel in central Italy was hit by an avalanche, apparently triggered by an earthquake.
Rescuers battled overnight to reach the Rigopiano hotel, with the first of them arriving on skis. Snow dislodged by the avalanche had blocked the roads in.
One person has been pulled dead from the snow. At least three came out alive but most others appear still buried.
One official said there were "many dead" in the hotel.
The mountainous region of central Italy was hit by a succession of four earthquakes on Wednesday and further tremors were reported overnight.
The quakes have compounded problems resulting from recent storms, which have brought down power lines and cut off villages.
Rescue operations are under way in other parts of the region as well.
What happened?
The roof on the four-star spa hotel, close to the Gran Sasso mountain in the Abruzzo region, partly collapsed on Wednesday night.
Rescuers said at least 20 tourists and seven staff were inside at the time, among them children.
Local residents in Farindola alerted emergency services.
"There are many deaths," Antonio Crocetta, the head of a mountain rescue team, was quoted as saying earlier this morning.
Italian media reported that some guests at the hotel had been able to send text messages after they were trapped.
Snow and debris has smashed into the foyer of the hotel
Rescuers have struggled to reach the hotel
"Help, we're dying of cold," Ansa news agency quoted one couple as saying.
Two people were found alive outside the damaged building, which was surrounded by fallen trees. They were taken to hospital, one suffering from hypothermia.
One of them, Giampiero Parete, said he had gone to get something from his car when the avalanche hit.
"I was covered by the snow but I managed to get out. The car was not submerged and I waited for the rescuers to arrive," he said, quoted by Ansa.
He added that his wife and two children were under the rubble.
How has the rescue effort gone?
A snowstorm and blocked routes have made access to the hotel difficult. Vehicles struggled to get through the snow, and some rescuers eventually resorted to skis.
Italian media said the first rescuers only reached the hotel on skis at 04:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Thursday.
Video footage showed them shovelling through a wall of snow.
The civil protection agency said it was now trying to get rescue vehicles to the hotel.
The first victim, a man, was pulled out at about 09:30, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
Speaking at midday GMT, Italian Red Cross spokesman Tomaso Della Longa told the BBC he had heard that "in the last few minutes one or two persons have been found alive".
The situation was changing "minute by minute" and there was still hope of finding more survivors, he added.
How did this come about?
Wednesday's quakes came after the regions of Abruzzo, Marche and Lazio were hit by days of heavy snow.
The Hotel Rigopiano was a luxury resort before the avalanche
One person in the area died on Wednesday and another was reported missing.
The same region was hit by an earthquake on 24 August, when 298 people died.
Another earthquake in October killed no-one, as most of the population centres had been evacuated.
Since then, the region has been hit by cold weather and snowstorms.
Analysis: Why so many quakes in Italy?
By Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent
The Apennines region saw three magnitude-6 tremors between August and October. A succession of quakes like this is often how the geology works.
The big picture is reasonably well understood. Wider tectonic forces in the Earth's crust have led to the Apennines being pulled apart at a rate of roughly 3mm per year - about a 10th of the speed at which your fingernails grow.
But this stress is then spread across a multitude of different faults that cut through the mountains. And this network is fiendishly complicated.
It does now look as though August's event broke two neighbouring faults, starting on one known as the Laga and then jumping across to one called the Vettore.
Then came October with a swathe of quakes that broke the rest of the Vetorre. But the stress, according to the seismologists, wasn't just sent north, it was loaded south as well - south of August's event.
And it's in this zone that we have now seen a series of quakes in recent days. About a dozen magnitude fours and fives.
Are you in the area or have you been affected by this incident? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
- Send pictures/video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk
- Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
- Send an SMS or MMS to 61124
Italy avalanche: 'Many missing' in Rigopiano hotel in Abruzzo - BBC News
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