The search and rescue operation at Italy’s avalanche-hit Hotel Rigopiano is officially over, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni announced today.
Italy’s national fire brigade pulled the last two bodies from the wreckage, putting the final death toll at 29.
11 people survived the rescue operation.
Everyone known to have been at the central Italian hotel at the time of the disaster has now been accounted for, reported Euronews.
Some guests were waiting to be evacuated when the avalanche ploughed into the building, partially overturning it and pushing it some ten metres away from its original site.
Multiple earthquakes had struck the region earlier that day (January 18), while the roads surrounding the hotel were blocked by heavy snowfall.
Gentiloni said more than two metres of snow fell within 72 hours on the isolated hotel, and the quakes. The ensuing landslide and avalanche dumped more than of 60,000 tons of snow, rocks and uprooted trees on top of the resort, burying 40 people inside.
NO SCAPEGOATS
Gentiloni acknowledged delays and “malfunctioning” in the initial rescue effort, after local authorities brushed off the first alarms about the avalanche.
The PM told parliament yesterday that “now was not the time to find scapegoats.”
Two people escaped and called for help, but the Pescara prefect’s office initially brushed off the alarm thinking it was a joke and that the hotel was safe, reported The Guardian.
The rescue operation started an hour or two later, and it took eight hours for the first crews to reach the site, travelling on foot because the roads were impassable.
CAUSE OF DEATH
Prosecutors said post-mortems on the first six bodies examined showed most died from the initial physical trauma of the hotel collapsing, with some also showing signs of hypothermia and asphyxiation.
Gentiloni said a criminal investigation into the deaths had begun.
Source: Euronews, The Guardian
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