Rescue crews pull survivors from hotel hit by avalanche

FARINDOLA, Italy (AP) — After two days huddled in freezing cold, tons of snow surrounding them in the wreckage of the avalanche-demolished hotel, survivors greeted their rescuers Friday as “angels.”

Cheers of “Bravo! Bravo!” rang out early Friday as the first survivors were pulled from the debris, boosting spirits two days after the massive snow slide buried some 30 people. Four children were among the 10 found alive so far.

“Today is a day of hope. There’s a miracle underway,” said Ilario Lacchetta, mayor of the tiny town of Farindola, where the hotel is located.

The rescues buoyed spirits after four bodies were discovered earlier in the rubble of the luxury Hotel Rigopiano, 180 kilometres northeast of Rome, where the avalanche dumped five metres of snow on top of the resort Wednesday.

Relatives of the missing rushed from the rescue operations centre in the mountains to the seaside hospital where the survivors were taken for treatment in hopes that their loved ones were among the lucky few to be found.

First word of the survivors came around 11 a.m. when a boy wearing blue snow pants and a matching ski jacket emerged through a tunnel dug in the snow more than 42 hours after the avalanche struck.

It was Gianfilippo Parete, the eight-year-old son of Giampiero Parete, a chef vacationing at the resort who was outside the hotel when the snow hit and first sounded the alarm by calling his boss.

Next to emerge was the boy’s mother, Adriana Vranceanu, 43, wearing red snow pants and appearing alert as she told rescuers that her six-year-old daughter, Ludovica, was still trapped inside.

They were reunited with Parete at a hospital in the coastal town of Pescara, suffering from hypothermia and dehydration but otherwise in good health, hospital officials said. Ludovica was rescued several hours later.

“They had heavy clothes,” said Dr. Tullio Spina, director of the hospital’s intensive care and anesthesia unit. “They had ski caps to cover themselves. They remained away from the snow and cold, they were always inside the structure. That’s why the hypothermia wasn’t severe.”

The people were trapped inside the hotel when the avalanche hit after days of winter storms that dumped up to three metres of snow. The region was also rocked by four earthquakes on Wednesday, though it was not clear if they set off the avalanche.