Rescuers search survivors at Hotel

(ANSA) - Farindola, January 20 - Alpine rescue personnel early on Friday continued to dig for survivors under the snow and rubble at the Hotel Rigopiano in the Abruzzo town of Farindola, which was hit by a massive avalanche probably due to Wednesday's earthquakes in central Italy.
    "We have been working since last night under extreme conditions to look for survivors", said Matteo Gasparini, who is in charge of alpine rescue services in Valdossola and who has been working on location since Thursday and through the night.
    "Dogs are often perceiving smells but we will have to dig for more than four, five meters before we reach the ground", he added.
    His team, along with alpine rescue operators from Canavese, Cuneo, Mondovì, Valsusa and Valsangone have been deployed since Thursday after the National coordination of civil protection authorities asked for more personnel to boost rescue efforts.
    Two bodies have been retrieved from the hotel site while at least 25 people are still missing, possibly as many as 34, according to Mario Mazzocca, Abruzzo's regional undersecretary in charge of civil protection.
    Two people were rescued on Thursday.
    An avalanche probably triggered by fresh earthquakes in central Italy on Wednesday swept away the luxury mountain resort hotel in Farindola in Abruzzo's Gran Sasso National Park.
    The first people to reach the hotel were local alpine rescue personnel, who got there with skis because of the heavy snow that has hit the area.