Up To 30 Feared Dead At Ski Hotel In Avalanche After Four Earthquakes Hit Italy

Up to 30 people are believed to have died after a hotel in central Italy was ‘buried’ by an avalanche following four powerful earthquakes.
Around 20 guests and seven members of staff are said to have been staying at the hotel in Pescara, a province in the Abruzzo region.
Antonio Crocetta, the head of a group of Alpine police trying to reach the cut-off hotel, said: ‘There are many dead’.

A rescue team are currently trying to ascertain how many victims are buried in the snow.
Several news websites quoted the president of the province stating on social media that an avalanche had hit the Hotel Rigopiano, and it had been buried.

‘There seem to be victims, but it all needs to be confirmed.’ Provincial President Antonio Di Marco was quoted as saying.
‘There were 20 guests in the hotel.’

According to MailOnline , 20 firemen, two mountain rescue teams, six ambulances and local police were called to the site.
However, due to the bad weather it is believed they did not arrive for hours.

Prime minister Paolo Gentiloni said it had been a ‘difficult day’ for Italy.

The avalanche followed four powerful earthquakes, which hit central Italy yesterday and led to the evacuation of Rome’s metro system.

The first tremor gave a reading of magnitude 5.6 (upgraded from 5.4) and a second quake hit less than an hour later, a third measured 5.3.

As well as the country’s capital, the quakes were felt in Lazio, Tuscany and Abruzzo.
They struck 69 miles north east of Rome at a relatively shallow depth of six miles, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.