In Italy rescuers search for survivors in the buried hotel

In Italy rescuers are trying to find 30 people who were buried at the time of the avalanche. While large amounts of snow prevent rescuers to get to the scene. People are under the rubble for nearly a day.

2 people died when a 4-star hotel Rigopiano, at the foot of mount Gran Sasso about (135 kilometres) 85 miles North-East of Rome, was inundated after series of earthquakes. "There are many dead," said rescuer Antonio Crocetta Italian ANSA state media on Thursday. Officials say that some of them can survive in air pockets inside the building, but rescuers still have found no signs of life. "We call, but nobody answers," said one of the rescuers.

Conditions are still dangerous. Rescuers had to halt its activities at around 2 a.m. local time, for fear of an avalanche and the continuing aftershocks. Rescue work began with the first rays of the sun. The civil protection service said that the hotel was in the process of evacuation due to an earthquake when hit by an avalanche. The Italian representative of the fire Department Luke brown, who was at the scene, told CNN that the hotel was "completely buried" under an avalanche and debris scattered over a distance of 100 meters from the hotel, making the search area a large. 2 people were rescued from the site, reported the main Department of civil defense Fabrizio Curcio.

The Prime Minister of Italy Gentiloni said that the country has not seen so much snow in decades. Deep snow, combined with the earthquake creating terrible conditions. "Because of the weather, you're telling people to stay in their homes in the earthquake, citizens need to get out of them. To combine these two elements is extremely difficult," said Curcio.

The hotel was not selected, but the road crews have cleared much of the snow and fallen trees on Thursday night, finally allowing the heavy rescue equipment to reach the hotel. When they arrived, they found only the top floor of the building and the roof sticking out of the snow.

Central Italy was shaken over 10 earthquakes on Wednesday, 4 of them above the magnitude 5 points, according to the U.S. Geological survey.

sections: Accidents, World News