Italy avalanche rescuers find six people ALIVE in hotel

Six people including a young girl have been found trapped alive in an Italian hotel that was hit by an avalanche as rescuers use their bare hands to dig them free from the building.
Rescue teams have located the group, which included an 11-year-old girl hiding in a kitchen of the barricaded hotel but are have difficulty pulling them to safety until specialist equipment arrives.


A radio belonging to a firefighter close to the scene was heard saying: 'We found five people alive. We're pulling them out. Send us a helicopter! However, it is thought there could be as many as eight people still alive inside

In addition the hotel's dogs Wolf and Cloud, were also pulled alive from the building.
It comes just hours after rescue teams said there was still hope of finding survivors after a barrage of snow hit the Hotel Rigopiano in the village of Farindola on Wednesday ripping the three-storey building from its foundations and moving it ten metres.
According to local media, rescue helicopters with doctors on board are en route to the scene and as well as sniffer dogs after the survivors were found.

Fire brigade spokesman Luca Cari said: 'They are alive and we are talking to them.'
It comes as the names of those who have not been seen since the avalanche hit have began to emerge as their families desperately wait to hear of their fate.
It is believed that 25 people are still missing presumed dead after the avalanche on Wednesday.
Among them are Domenico DiMichelangelo, 41, a police chief, his wife Marina and their seven-year-old son who had been on a family holiday at the hotel when the avalanche hit.
Also missing presumed dead are husband and wife Corporal Luciano and his wife Silvana Angelucci.
The couple who are both hairdressers and run a well-known beauty spa in the region Chieti , had only arrived at the hotel on Sunday.
Another couple, Marco Vagnarelli and Paola Tomassini are also missing after the avalanche of snow.
The pair, who are from Castignano, have not been heard from since the avalanche, when they messaged Mr Vagnarelli's brother to say they couldn't leave the hotel due to the weather conditions.
Among the others who have not been seen since the avalanche are Alessandro Ricetti, 33, hotel employee Emanuele Bonifazi, as well as other couple Jessica Tinari and Marco Tanda.
Also added to the list of the missing are couple Stefano Feniello, 28, and Francesca Bronzes, 25, as well as hotel employee Ilaria Di Biase.
And deputy interior minister Filippo Bubbico told reporters in the town of Penne, where a camp has been set up for rescue workers: 'We're holding on to hope that there are survivors inside.'
'Firefighters and alpine rescuers are working tirelessly and now the army is doing everything to improve access to the route.'