Hours after puppy find raises spirits of rescuers, helicopter crashes near Italy avalanche site

Hopes of finding more survivors after an avalanche buried a mountain resort in central Italy under tonnes of snow and rubble are fading as the death toll rose to 15.

Hours after puppy find raises spirits of rescuers, helicopter crashes near Italy avalanche site

Hopes of finding more survivors after an avalanche buried a mountain resort in central Italy under tonnes of snow and rubble are fading as the death toll rose to 15.

Rescue crews at the Hotel Rigopiano in Abruzzo have also had to deal with fresh tragedy after a helicopter crashed in the same region.

The aircraft was ferrying an injured skier off the slopes when it went down with at least six people on board.

Poor visibility is hampering efforts to reach the downed helicopter, which had been taking the injured skier from the Campo Felice ski area to the Abruzzo regional capital of L’Aquila.

The crash was another blow to central Italy’s Abruzzo region, which has been slammed by a series of powerful earthquakes and heavy snowfall which triggered the January 18 avalanche at the Hotel Rigopiano.

The death toll from the avalanche has climbed to 15 with the discovery of a half-dozen more bodies, leaving 14 people still unaccounted for.

Nine people were pulled out alive from the rubble, three of whom remain in hospital in nearby Pescara.

Rescue crews had been buoyed by the discovery of three of the hotel’s resident puppies, though they stressed that the sheepdogs were found in a boiler room far from where the missing people are thought to be.

Firefighters’ spokesman Alberto Maiolo said search crews aided by heavy digging equipment were finally able to penetrate the snow-covered central part of the hotel for the first time - the bar and kitchen area - and found the bodies. He said there were no other signs of life.

"Logically, hopes fade as time passes, but we are continuing to search and trying to do it as quickly as possible," he said.

The first funerals have been held, with crowds gathering outside the hilltop church in Farindola to pay their respects to Alessandro Giancaterino.

The chief waiter, one of the first victims to be pulled from the rubble, had offered to stay for a double shift on January 18 to spare a colleague from having to make his way to the hotel through the snow, which was 6-9ft high in some places.

"He was a great hard worker. He was very professional," said his brother, Massimiliano Giancaterino.

"This is the memory that I want to keep of my brother, beyond obviously the private ones that I keep in my heart."

Prosecutors are investigating whether a series of missed communications, underestimations of risks and delays in responding to days of heavy snowfall contributed to the death toll from the January 18 avalanche.

In addition, they are looking into the original construction of the isolated resort and whether it should have been open for business at all in such conditions.

Mr Giancaterino, who is also the former mayor of Farindola, said it was useless to speculate now about whether the tragedy could have been avoided while an investigation was just beginning.

"Now is not the time for hypothesis," he said.

"It is the time of pain and above all my thoughts go to the friends and relatives of those who are still missing."

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