An avalanche which may have been triggered by an earthquake buried a hotel at a ski resort in central Italy, leaving up to 30 hotel guests and workers either missing or dead according to authorities who spent the night battling bad weather conditions trying to reach the Hotel Rigopiano on the Gran Sasso mountain in the central Abruzzo region.
Italy’s civil protection agency confirmed that 22 guests registered at the hotel were unaccounted for, along with “six or seven” workers.
One body has been found so far.
The region has been shaken by dozens of aftershocks since a major quake last August that killed nearly 300 people.
Four strong temblors struck Wednesday.