01-20-2017, 01:38 AM
Hopes of finding survivors dwindled on Thursday more than 24 hours after an avalanche struck a luxury mountain hotel in Italy burying up to 30 people under tonnes of snow and debris.
The Civil Protection department said just two bodies had been recovered but its chief said the search for victims and possible survivors would continue through the night.
"There is always hope, if there were no hope the rescuers wouldn't give everything they've got," Fabrizio Curcio told reporters. He said his teams would "continue to do everything possible during the night," even though conditions were far more difficult than in daytime.
The disaster struck hours after four earthquakes with a magnitude above 5 hit central Italy.
Titti Postiglione, head of the department's emergency office, said more snow could fall from peaks in the Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region because the temperature was rising, while further quakes were possible.
The Civil Protection department said just two bodies had been recovered but its chief said the search for victims and possible survivors would continue through the night.
"There is always hope, if there were no hope the rescuers wouldn't give everything they've got," Fabrizio Curcio told reporters. He said his teams would "continue to do everything possible during the night," even though conditions were far more difficult than in daytime.
The disaster struck hours after four earthquakes with a magnitude above 5 hit central Italy.
Titti Postiglione, head of the department's emergency office, said more snow could fall from peaks in the Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region because the temperature was rising, while further quakes were possible.