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Ten people rescued

UPDATE: 11:30 a.m.

With cheers of joy, rescue crews pulled survivors from the debris of an avalanche-crushed hotel in central Italy on Friday, boosting spirits two days after the massive snow slide buried some 30 people at the resort. At least two children were among the 10 people found alive.

The news sent relatives of the missing rushing from the rescue operations centre in the mountains to the hospital on the coast in hopes that their loved ones were among the lucky few to be found.

And it buoyed rescue workers who had already located four bodies from the avalanche that slammed Wednesday into the luxury Hotel Rigopiano, 180 kilometres northeast of Rome, and dumped up to 5 metres of snow on top of the resort.

"Today is a day of hope. There's a miracle under way," said Ilario Lacchetta, mayor of the tiny town of Farindola, where the hotel is located.


ORIGINAL: 7 a.m.

Rescue crews located up to eight people alive in the kitchen of an avalanche-crushed hotel in Italy on Friday, an incredible discovery that boosted spirits two days after the massive snow slide buried around 30 people in the resort.

Video released by rescuers showed a boy, wearing blue snow pants and a matching ski shirt, emerging from the structure and crews mussing his hair in celebration.

Next was a woman with a long ponytail wearing red snow pants. "Brava Brava!" the rescuers cheered. The survivors appeared fully alert and walking on their own. Both were helped down to a stretcher for the helicopter ride out.

"This first news has obviously repaid all the rescuers' efforts," deputy interior minister Filippo Bubbico said.

First word of the discovery came about 11 a.m., news met with exhilaration after at least four people had already been found dead since Thursday.

"We found five people alive. We're pulling them out. Send us a helicopter," a rescuer said over firefighters' radio, overheard by Associated Press journalists who were making their way on foot toward the disaster site.

Later, the number rose to eight people, including two children, Italian news reports said.

Titi Postiglione, operations chief of the civil protection agency, confirmed six people were located, but the numbers were fluid: She said two had been extracted already and crews were working to get another four out of the rubble.

These survivors, she said "can give us a series of indications to help with our intervention plan, information to understand what happened and help direct the search."



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