Search for Rigopiano survivors continues, puppies found alive

Three puppies were found alive in the rubble of the avalanche-hit Rigopiano Hotel in Abruzzo Monday. Their parents, Nuvola and Lupo, escaped the hotel's collapse and came downhill a few days ago. The puppies were said to be in good health after almost five days buried in freezing snow. The dogs are a local breed, Abruzzo shepherds.

Rescue operations on Monday continued at the avalanche-hit Rigopiano Hotel near the Abruzzo mountain resort town of Farindola as search teams with working around the clock amid deteriorating weather conditions in search of possible survivors and bodies.A seventh victim was pulled out of the rubble and snow on Monday. Eleven survived the disaster, including nine who were pulled out of the ruins by search teams, while 22 others who were inside the hotel when it was hit by an avalanche on Wednesday are still missing.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Pescara investigating the disaster said the hotel had sent an email to local authorities on Wednesday to alert them that clients were stranded because all roads around the resort were blocked due to the snow and that they wanted to leave after earthquakes of magnitude 5 or above had shaken the area in the morning.

The information had also reached rescue teams who had been working since 3: am Wednesday to clear roads, according to investigators who are looking into possible disaster and multiple manslaughter charges.

The email sent by the hotel's director, Bruno Di Tommaso, spoke about a "worrisome situation" and said "clients were terrified" because they were stranded and couldn't leave "due to blocked roads", asking for a rescue team to intervene.

The Abruzzo region where the hotel was located was gripped by subfreezing temperatures and snow with one in four residents without power, multiple roads blocked and floods when it was shaken by four earthquakes between L'Aquila and Rieti in Lazio that wreaked further havoc in the area. Local authorities said a wind turbine would be dispatched in the evening but the hotel was hit by an avalanche at around 4:30 pm, just two hours after another quake hit the area.

ANSA