6 probed for manslaughter in deadly Italian avalanche

29 people killed after hotel buried in metres of snow, trapping guests and staff

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

The news agency ANSA said prosecutors were issuing formal notices of investigation against the Pescara provincial president, Antonio Di Marco; the mayor of Farindola, Ilario Lacchetta; and the director of the Rigopiano hotel, Bruno Di Tomasso. Also under investigation are two provincial employees and a Farindola city employee.

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 while snow accumulated the night before the avalanche.

The list of people under investigation does not include officials who were accused in the days after the avalanche of not reacting quickly enough to reports of the disaster.

The avalanche buried guests and hotel staff as they waited for a snow plow to clear roads of metres-deep snow so they could leave the hotel after being shaken by a series of strong earthquakes. Two people escaped the avalanche while nine, including four children, were pulled alive from the snow and debris days after the tragedy.