OFFICIALS EYED IN AVALANCHE INVESTIGATION

Italian prosecutors are investigating six people for manslaughter and causing bodily harm in a deadly avalanche at a mountain hotel that killed 29, Italian news reports said Thursday.

The news agency ANSA said prosecutors were issuing formal notices of investigation against the Pescara provincial president, the mayor of Farindola, and the director of the Rigopiano hotel.

Pescara prosecutors declined to comment on the investigation.

Italian news reports said the investigation was focused on the failure to evacuate the hotel in the days before the January avalanche as snowfall hit levels not seen in decades, and the fact that at least eight cars were escorted by provincial law enforcement to the hotel as snow accumulated the night before the tragedy.