The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rescuers search for avalanche survivors
FARINDOLA, ITALY — Using saws, shovels and their gloved hands, rescue workers advanced slowly Saturday through the wreckage of an avalanche-destroyed hotel in central Italy, listening hard for any signs of more survivors among the 23 missing guests and hotel workers.
Falling snow reduced visibility and raised new fears that a fresh wall of snow could barrel down upon the emergency workers at the site in Italy’s Apennines mountains. Rescuers were working around the clock and said the risk of a new avalanche was very high.
By Saturday, nine survivors and five bodies had been pulled out of what was the Hotel Rigopiano, now a ruin under the weight of tons of snow that cascaded down the mountain late Wednesday afternoon. One survivor underwent surgery for a crushed arm, while the others were reported in good condition. The rescued included all four children inside the hotel when the avalanche hit.
Firefighter spokesman Alberto Maiolo said noises were heard Saturday, but it was not immediately clear if they were caused by survivors.
“The noises could be the drip of snow melt, material shifting” or from survivors, he told Sky TG24 TV.
That voices haven’t been heard lately doesn’t mean no one is still alive, said Walter Milan, a spokesman for alpine rescuers.
“We know that thick walls and snow isolates” possible voices, Milan told Sky.
Because of the avalanche risk, escape routes were planned for rescue crews and each participant was equipped with a tracking device in case of burial under the snow.
Snow more than 10 feet deep thwarted the arrival of heavy equipment, including cranes, said rescue spokesman Marco Bini, leaving the searchers to dig with simple snow shovels and often their hands.
The search included sending sound-sensitive instruments down into snowcrusted debris and devices that could pick up any electronic waves emitted by the cell phones of the missing, Milan said. Rescuers passed crates full of hardened snow and ice to colleagues as they tried to penetrate deeper into the wreckage, digging shafts to allow searchers to descend into the smashed hotel.
At the hospital in the nearby city of Pescara where survivors were taken, anger and frustrations exploded as family members tried desperately to find out if their loved ones were among the dead or missing.
One father who had been waiting since Wednesday evening for word of his son’s fate erupted in front of television cameras, pointing angrily at the cars of local officials.
“What are they doing? They aren’t doing anything. Why didn’t they go get the kids out the night before the disaster?” shouted Alessio Feniello, referring to his son, Stefano Feniello, and his son’s fiancee Francesca Bronzi, who was among those hospitalized.
Distraught, he said he had been told that his son had survived, but officials had supplied no clear informationby midday Saturday.
The avalanche dumped 16½ feet of snow on top of the resort. The region, which has been blanketed by heavy snowfall, was also rocked by four strong earthquakes on Wednesday, though it wasn’t clear if they set off the avalanches.