'An avalanche has hit. The hotel isn't there any more': Boss of chef who survived Italy hotel disaster reveals last phone call as it emerges guests were about to flee when tragedy struck
- The hotel in Farindola, central Italy, was buried under an avalanche yesterday
- Up to 38 people including guests and staff are missing with many feared dead
- Several guests had been waiting to leave in the lobby of the Hotel Rigopiano
- Rescuers using cross country skis trekked through the night to reach the scene
- Four earthquakes shook the region and the tremors triggered the avalanche
The desperate phone call made by a chef after an avalanche hit a hotel in Italy has been revealed, as it emerged that guests were about to leave when tragedy struck.
Up to 38 people are believed to have been killed when the hotel, in the remote village of Farindola, was crushed under a 6ft wall of snow yesterday as four earthquakes hit the central Italian region of Abruzzo.
Giampaolo Parete, 38, a chef who was on vacation there, was one of two people rescued from the three-storey hotel.
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A rescuer arrives at the wrecked Hotel Rigopiano and looks up the mountainside where the avalanche hurtled down the slope yesterday
Rescuers have been digging through the huge pile of snow which crashed down onto the hotel
A survivor is seen being led out from the Hotel Rigopiano by rescue workers
Up to 30 people are feared dead after an Italian ski hotel was buried by an avalanche during a series of earthquakes
Italy's Civil Protection Agency said there had been around 30 guests and staff at the hotel on the eastern lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain
His boss, restaurant owner Quintino Marcella, said he received a phone call at 5.30pm yesterday.
He said: 'He calls me and says "Help me, an avalanche has hit and the hotel isn't there anymore. It's disappeared. It's buried. Two of us are here but call rescue crews.'''
Marcella said he immediately called police and the prefecture's emergency coordination centre, but the prefect's office assured him that the hotel had phoned two or three hours earlier reporting everything was OK.
Marcella said he frantically tried to call other emergency numbers but no one took him seriously. Speaking on Sky TG24, he said only hours later, after 8pm, did the response begin.
He said his chef kept saying 'Help, help, help, help.'
Dramatic pictures from inside the hotel show how part of the building collapsed under the weight of the avalanche
Rescue workers continued to search for victims at the Hotel Rigopiano in the town of Farindola
The desperate phone call made by a chef who survived the disaster has been revealed. He told his boss: 'Help me, an avalanche has hit and the hotel isn't there anymore. It's disappeared'
Rescuers were met with an eerie silence today as they arrived at the Hotel Rigopiano and began digging through the snow in an attempt to find survivors (pictured)
A police helicopter dropped off food supplies for rescuers at the scene of the disaster
He told an Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, the group had all checked out of the Hotel Rigopiano and had gathered in the lobby.
But heavy snow had made the road outside impassable and they were waiting for a snow plough to clear a path up to the hotel.
As they waited in the foyer the avalanche cascaded down the mountainside, smashing into the hotel and burying them under a huge pile of snow.
Marcella told La Repubblica: 'Giampaolo and all the other guests had paid and had reached the lobby, ready to go as soon as the snow plough arrived.'
'They had already prepared suitcases. All the customers wanted to leave.'
Hopes of finding anyone alive in the snow and the wreck of the hotel are receding
Shocking images from inside the hotel show how snow had cascaded down stairways and corridors
Up to 30 people are feared to have been killed after an Italian ski hotel was buried by an avalanche during a series of earthquakes
There are reports this morning that as many as 30 people - guests and staff- are missing after the avalanche crashed in to the three-storey hotel, shifting it up to 30ft
A man is escorted by Alpine policemen and a fireman outside the Hotel Rigopiano, near the village of Farindola
Rescue teams are still battling to access the hotel - a task made more difficult by huge snow drifts in the area
Italian rescuers directed rescue cars at a road block in Farindola on Thursday
A road block is in place preventing people from entering the village where the tragedy struck
The BBC reported that three bodies had been found in the hotel but rescuers were searching for up to 35 others.
Earlier it was reported that desperate guests trapped inside the hotel sent texts to loved ones after the building was crushed.
One message, believed to have been sent from the four-star Hotel Rigopiano, said 'Help, help, we are dying of the cold' while another, sent from outside, urged those still caught inside to 'be calm'.
Other trapped guests are reported to have sent texts directly to emergency services with phone lines in rooms said to have been cut off by the force of the avalanche.
Mountain emergency crews using cross country skis trekked six miles through the night to reach the hotel, battling through 15ft of snow which has fallen in a matter of days.
There are reports this morning that as many as 30 people - guests and staff - are missing after thousands of tonnes of snow engulfed the three-storey hotel, causing part of it to collapse and shifting the building 30ft. Two have been rescued so far.
According to Sky, One text message sent to someone inside the hotel said: '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 have begun extracting bodies after battling through blizzard conditions to reach the hotel on skis or by helicopter, say there were no signs of life inside the building
Rescuers have started the grim task of excavating snow from the interior of the building
Another photograph shows the snow filling up the inside of the Hotel Rigopiano
A photograph shows the damage done inside the spa hotel after it was buried by the avalanche
Separate aerial video shows how a column of rescue vehicles attempting to reach the remote community had become completely stuck in huge snow drifts
A snow-plough truck made its way through the snow in order to reach the Rigopiano Hotel
A rescue convoy became stuck in snow drifts as emergency crews scrambled to reach the village
The Hotel Rigopiano pictured before the devastating avalanche hit yesterday (file photo)
Emergency crews were eventually able to fund a way in to the Hotel Rigopiano, which has been crushed by an avalanche
Police released images showing the damage done to the interior of the hotel following the avalanche
The hotel is located around 55 miles from the epicentre of the earthquakes yesterday
Earlier, it emerged that a father had survived the tragedy because he left to get something from his car when the avalanche hit the building. But he told doctors the wall of snow had buried his wife and two children.
Rescuers, who have begun extracting bodies after battling through blizzard conditions to reach the hotel on skis or by helicopter, say there were no signs of life inside the building.
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. Initial television pictures showed that mounds of snow and debris had smashed through a hotel wall into the lobby.
Haunting footage also shows how piles of snow and rubble had cascaded down stairways. The audio was silent.
The largest wall of snow shown was in the 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.
Separate aerial video shows how a column of rescue vehicles attempting to reach the remote community had become completely stuck in huge snow drifts.
Pictures emerging from the scene show how rescuers are having to contend with mountains of snow
Rescuers used shovels as they attempted to clear a pathway to the hotel where dozens are feared to have been buried
Rescue teams had to trek for six miles using cross country skis to reach Hotel Rigopiano, in the remote village of Farindola, in the Abruzzo region, which has been hit by heavy snowfall in the last week
Twenty firemen, two mountain rescue teams, six ambulances and local police were heading for the site last night, but the weather conditions were expected to cause major delays, a civil protection agency spokesman said
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni today urged authorities to redouble efforts to reach people isolated by the earthquakes and unusually heavy snow, as he sought to deflect criticism of the rescue efforts.
Gentiloni told reporters Thursday that the priority is to reach all isolated towns and hamlets that have been buried under snowfall for days and then jolted by four powerful quakes on Wednesday.
Residents have been complaining for days that they have been without electricity because of what Gentiloni called a 'record snowfall.' Criticism has also come in about the response time to reach a hotel buried under an avalanche.
Gentiloni said: 'I ask everyone if possible to multiply their efforts. I ask politicians to show sobriety respecting the difficulty of the situation and the commitment of civil and military crews who are responding.'
The head of the Italy's civil protection authority, Fabrizio Curcio, says that authorities are confronting 'two exceptional events that that already alone would have created great difficulty in the response.'
For the heavy snowfall, Curcio said: 'We try to tell people to stay in their own homes, if they are secure, obviously. And in the areas of quakes, people should leave their homes. Putting together these two elements is extremely complicated.'
Mountain rescue teams reached the hotel by skis at around 4am local time, Sky TG24 reported.
An ambulance was blocked several miles from the hotel, according to Sky, while footage showed emergency services helicopters in the air near the scene
Rescue teams seen arriving in the town of Farindola, central Italy, following the disaster
A rescue truck making its way through Farindola, as another vehicle is seen buried in the snow
Blizzards in the area were hampering rescue operations as helicopters were brought in
A rescuer carries food supplied by an Italian Police helicopter in front of the hotel
Video footage showed rescuers with shovels digging through a wall of snow, and at least one man being led through the cleared path. An ambulance was blocked several miles from the hotel, according to Sky, while footage showed emergency services helicopters in the air near the scene.
Italy's Civil Protection Agency said there had been around 30 guests and staff at the hotel on the eastern lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain.
It said it could not immediately confirm any deaths out of respect for the families of the guests and staff.
A base camp for rescue workers has been set up in the nearby town of Penne (pictured)
A car is buried in snow in Penne, which is about six miles away from Farindola
A soldier pictured in the town of Amatrice after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the region
Antonio Di Marco, president of the province of Pescara, which includes the mountain village of Farindola, said two people had been saved.
'We don't know yet how many people are unaccounted for or dead,' he wrote on his Facebook page.
'What is certain is that the building took a direct hit from the avalanche, to the point that it was moved by 10 metres.'
Farindola mayor Ilario Lacchetta said on his Facebook page that 'the dimensions of the avalanche were huge
Rescuers have been facing tough conditions as they attempt to reach the scene of the avalanche
Video footage showed rescuers with shovels digging through a wall of snow, and at least one man being led through the cleared path
Tractors with snowploughs are being used in a desperate bid to clear roads in the area
Farindola mayor Ilario Lacchetta said on his Facebook page that 'the dimensions of the avalanche were huge.
'It took the whole hotel with it.' he said.
The region was hit by four seismic shocks measuring above five magnitude in the space of four hours on Wednesday, with at least one person confirmed dead.
The hotel is located around 55 miles from the epicentre of the quakes.
Twenty firemen, two mountain rescue teams, six ambulances and local police were heading for the site last night, but the weather conditions were expected to cause major delays, a civil protection agency spokesman said.
Italy was hit by four earthquakes in four hours on Wednesday, killing one and bringing terror to snowbound mountain areas still recovering from last year's series of deadly tremors.
The quakes, all measuring more than five magnitude, struck close to Amatrice, the mountain town devastated by an August earthquake that left nearly 300 people dead.
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 said in a statement.
And as night fell and temperatures plummeted, fears mounted for isolated residents of remote hamlets cut off by heavy snowfall, while more than 130,000 homes were without electricity.
A mother and child dragged from the ruins of a collapsed country cottage near Teramo in the Abruzzo region were both found to be suffering from hypothermia.
Italy's Civil Protection Agency said there had been around 30 guests and staff at the Hotel Rigopiano on the eastern lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain when the first of four powerful quakes hit the region on Wednesday morning
Antonio Di Marco, president of the province of Pescara, which includes the mountain village of Farindola where the hotel is located, said two people had been saved
The region was hit by four seismic shocks measuring above five magnitude in the space of four hours on Wednesday, with at least one person confirmed dead
Shortly before dusk, 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 AFP.
'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 another hamlet, Aringo, to check on elderly relatives.
'They were trapped in the house because of the snow,' he said. 'We got them out and then helped the last 10 or so residents here to leave.'
Around 160 people were preparing to spend the night under the canvas of a giant tent on a local sports field.
Wednesday's first shock struck at 10.25 am local time.
A hotel in central Italy was hit by an avalanche on Wednesday, and rescuers are trying to ascertain whether there are any victims, Italian media reported
Three people were believed missing after the avalanche hit the hotel in Pescara, a province in the Abruzzo region
Four strong earthquakes have shaken the same region of central Italy that suffered deadly tremors last year, and could have had an affect on the avalanche
As night fell and temperatures plummeted, fears mounted for isolated residents of remote hamlets cut off by heavy snowfall, while more than 130,000 homes were without electricity
Monitors put its strength at between 5.1 and 5.3 magnitude. A second, 50 minutes later, was measured between 5.4 and 5.7.
A third, minutes later, measured 5.3, while one of more than 100 major aftershocks was measured at 5.1 at 2.30 pm.
The tremors were felt powerfully across the Abruzzo, Lazio and Marche regions and clearly in Rome, over 100 kilometres (60 miles) away.
Residents of Aquila, where over 300 people died in a 2009 earthquake, rushed into the snow-covered streets in panic but the city suffered little damage.
Avalanche warnings were issued across a region that has a number of ski resorts and a highest peak, Gran Sasso, at 2,912 metres (9,554 feet).
In Amatrice, the belltower of the 15th Century Church of Sant'Agostino collapsed. It had been damaged by the first of the earthquakes which struck the mountainous centre of the country between August and October last year.
Shell-shocked residents from the village of Montereale arrive to set up for the night in a large tent on a nearby sports ground
Road block: Thick snow covering earthquake hit areas of Colledara in Italy have been hampering rescue operations
Most of those who died in that quake were in the town, a beauty spot which was packed with holidaymakers at the height of the summer season.
Two further quakes rattled the region in October, with the most powerful measuring 6.5 magnitude.
Amatrice mayor Sergio Pirozzi cursed his town's bad luck.
'I don't know if we did something bad. That's what I have been asking since yesterday. We have got up to two metres of snow and now another earthquake!'
Stefano Petrucci, mayor of nearby Accumoli, said roads were unpassable and bemoaned a shortage of clearance trucks. 'We can't fight a war with bows and arrows.'
The affected area is thinly populated and thousands of residents were evacuated last year pending reconstruction of their homes.
The last of the 2016 quakes, on October 30, was the most powerful since a 6.9 magnitude one struck near Naples in southern Italy in 1980, leaving 3,000 people dead.
Much of the country's land mass and some of its surrounding waters are prone to seismic activity with the highest risk concentrated along its mountainous central spine.
Italy straddles the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, making it vulnerable when they move.
The worst disaster of the 20th century was in 1908 when an estimated 95,000 died in tidal waves following a quake in the sea between mainland Italy and Sicily.
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