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PENNE, Italy (AP) — Three bodies have been found at the scene of an avalanche that buried a hotel in central Italy following an earthquake.
Rescue workers on skis have reached the ruins of the hotel -- but heavy vehicles have been struggling to get to the scene to help in the search for the 30 people believed trapped inside.
Aerial video shot by helicopter crews showed rescue workers on top of the snow-covered hotel, digging holes down to try to get in.
Firefighters say the snow slide uprooted trees and wiped out parts of the hotel. A firefighters' spokesman tells a news agency (ANSA) that mattresses ended up hundreds of yards away from where the building was.
Two people escaped the devastation and called for help, but it took hours for responders to arrive to the remote zone.
A chef who was vacationing at the hotel called his boss when the avalanche struck and begged him to mobilize rescue crews. The employer says the chef's wife and two children were trapped inside. He says when the survivor called police and local officials for help, they didn't believe his claims about the avalanche -- but that someone finally took him seriously and mobilized a rescue more than two hours later.
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144-c-16-(Colleen Barry, AP correspondent)-"were trapped inside"-AP correspondent Colleen Barry reports people stuck inside the hotel were texting for help. (19 Jan 2017)
<<CUT *144 (01/19/17)££ 00:16 "were trapped inside"
142-c-15-(Colleen Barry, AP correspondent)-"nobody is responding"-AP correspondent Colleen Barry has seen video of rescuers entering the hotel, and it looks grim. (19 Jan 2017)
<<CUT *142 (01/19/17)££ 00:15 "nobody is responding"
APPHOTO ROM127: A rescue clears snow in front of the Rigopiano Hotel, following an avalanche in Farindola, Italy, early Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017. Rescue workers were met with an eerie silence Thursday when they reached a four-star spa hotel struck by an avalanche in a mountainous earthquake-stricken region of central Italy. At least 30 people were missing, including at least two children, authorities said. (Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico/The National Alpine Cliff and Cave Rescue Corps (CNSAS) via AP) (19 Jan 2017)
<<APPHOTO ROM127 (01/19/17)££
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