Tourists feared dead in Italy avalanche ‘tried to flee hotel after earthquake struck but were buried under snow before help could arrive’
GUESTS at an Italian hotel buried by an 'apocalyptic' avalanche were just minutes from rescue when the disaster struck, it has been reported.
Up to 30 people are feared dead after earthquakes triggered the 'apocalyptic' avalanche which engulfed the Hotel Rigopiano in the town of Farindola last night.
A friend of one of the survivors has now told Italian media that the customers had all checked out and gathered in the reception area.
With heavy snow making the roads impassable, the guests were forced to wait for the arrival of a snow plough to clear the way – which is said to have been delayed.
But with the plough reportedly just minutes away, the wall of snow came thundering down the mountain, engulfing the building.
Restaurant owner Quintino Marcella – the employer of survivor Giampaolo Parete – told : “Giampaolo and all the other guests had paid and had reached the lobby, ready to go as soon as the snow plough arrived.”
He added: “They had already prepared suitcases, all customers wanted to leave.”
At least 20 tourists and seven staff are believed to have been inside the hotel when it was struck and 'shunted ten metres' – although it is not believed any Brits were involved.
Trapped guests texted desperate last messages saying "Help help we are dying of cold", Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported.
Another texted relatives saying: "They are extracting them from the hotel, and bringing them to hospitals, I think.
"But I don't know because it is impossible for us to go up. I am sorry."
Rescuers, who arrived on skis after being hampered by blizzards, described “apocalyptic scenes”.
"The hotel is almost completely destroyed. We've called out but we've heard no replies, no voices," said Antonio Crocetta, a member of the Alpine Rescue squad who was on the scene.
According to local media, emergency workers have so far found four bodies inside the hotel on the central Abruzzo region’s Gran Sasso mountain.
Only two people - now named in the Italian press as Giampaolo Parete and Fabio Salzetta - have so far been found alive.
Both men were outside at the time the avalanche struck.
Pictures have emerged showing one of the survivors being led away to safety after rescue teams managed to reach them.
And Parete has now revealed he only survived the disaster because he left to get something from his car when the avalanche hit, burying his wife and two children.
The chef, who was on holiday with his family at the time, said the car hadn't been buried and that he waited there for rescuers.
He told La Repubblica:“I'm safe because I went by car to take medicine for my wife who had a headache.
“As I walked into the hotel I heard noises and creaks and saw the mountain fall on the building.”
He added: “We didn’t hear any noise or movement from inside the hotel. My two kids and my wife are in there.”
Antonio Di Marco, president of Pescara province, wrote on Facebook: "The building took a direct hit from the avalanche, to the point that it was moved by 10 metres."
Farindola mayor Ilario Lacchetta wrote on social media that “the dimensions of the avalanche were huge…it took the whole hotel with it”.
Italian news agency Ansa said the 43-room hotel had partially collapsed after being buried by snow.
"There are many dead," Antonio Crocetta from the Abruzzo mountain rescue team told Italy's ANSA news agency.
An aerial shot of the hotel released by the fire brigade showed just the last floor and the roof visible above a thick blanket of snow.
According to Corriere della Sera, survivor Fabio Salzetta said: "I'm outside with a maintenance worker but you can't see anything of the hotel, there's only a wall of snow in front of me."
Heavy snowfall hampered rescue efforts as emergency workers struggled to make it to the site.
Italy's Civil Protection department said late Wednesday it had dispatched a team of 20 rescuers including seven firefighters, two mountain rescue teams and six ambulances to the scene.
But the first rescuers only managed to arrive at 4.30am after skiing through a heavy snow storm to reach the site.
After dawn broke, emergency services sent in helicopters.
Heavy snowfall made the roads to the hotel impassable in the immediate aftermath of the quake
But emergency teams have been struggling in the difficult conditions.
Alpine rescue worker Antonio Crocetta said: "We haven't been able to do too much. The structure has collapsed. It's more like a pile of rubble than a hotel.
"What is left of the hotel is in danger of collapse. The hotel is almost completely destroyed.
"We've called out but we've heard no replies, no voices. We're digging and looking for people."
A base camp for rescue workers has now been set up six miles away in the town of Penne.
Ambulances have been waiting there for earth-moving vehicles to clear the winding, snow-clogged road leading to the hotel.
Haunting images have also emerged from inside the hotel after rescue teams gained access to part of the building.
Video shot by rescue teams showed huge piles of filthy snow and debris piled up in corridors and stairwells, having slammed through the outer walls.
The audio is eerily silent.
The biggest wall of snow shown was in the indoor pool area, where plastic lounge chairs were flipped on their sides and Christmas decorations still dangled from the ceiling.
The bar area appeared flooded, with nearby cracked skylights covered with snow outside.
The quakes, all measuring above five on the Richter scale, struck close to Amatrice, the same mountain town devastated by another earthquake in August that left nearly 300 dead.
Elsewhere in Italy, the body of one victim was found under the debris of a building in the town of Castel Castagna, in the province of Teramo, local authorities announced.
And as night fell and temperatures plummeted, fears mounted for isolated residents of remote towns cut off by the heavy snow, while more than 130,000 homes were left without electricity in the freezing temperatures.
A mum and her child were left with hypothermia after being dragged from the ruins of a collapsed country cottage near Teramo in the Abruzzo region.
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Shortly before sunset, Nello Patrizi, a farmer in Montereale, south of Amatrice, was out with his dog, trying to check on cows knee-deep in snow.
"It was an apocalyptic shock. We were petrified," the 63-year-old told reporters.
"The first one was bad enough, the others seemed even stronger.
"You had the impression everything was collapsing, people were screaming.
"With all the snow there was this morning, people could not get out of their houses. I thought 'All we need now is an earthquake' and here it is."
Fabio di Gianfrancesco, 55, drove from Rome to the tiny village of Aringo to check on elderly relatives.
He said: "They were trapped in the house because of the snow.
"We got them out and then helped the last 10 or so residents here to leave."
Around 160 people were preparing to spend last night under the canvas of a giant tent on a local sports field.
The first quake, measuring 5.4, struck at 10.30am local time yesterday, before a second, less than an hour later, measuring at around 5.7.
A third, ten minutes later, measured 5.3, while one of more than 100 major aftershocks was measured at 5.1 at 2.30pm.
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