"There are many dead," one of the commanding officers, Antonio Crocetta, was quoted as saying.The rescuers at the hotel were reported to have a snow mobile capable of transporting up to eight people.Ambulances were blocked by two metres of snow some nine kilometres (5.5 miles) away, according to the civil protection agency.Antonio Di Marco, president of the province of Pescara, which includes the mountain village of Farindola, close to where the hotel is located, said two people had been found alive. "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. "It took the whole hotel with it."

Source: Times of India January 19, 2017 08:10 UTC