ITALY AVALANCHE: Astonishing moment boy PULLED ALIVE as voices heard from UNDER ICE
THIS is the astonishing moment a young boy is pulled alive from the frozen wreckage of Italy's avalanche-struck Hotel Riogopiano after two days trapped under the ice - and rescue workers have found a total of ten survivors.
Trapped mother and son rescued from avalanche hotel
Thirty people, including four children, were reported missing and presumed dead after an avalanche slammed into the hotel in central Italy on Wednesday.
Two men who were outside the hotel at the time managed to escape the wall of snow.
Not all were so lucky, with two bodies so far being removed from the ice as rescuers continue with their desperate bid to find survivors.
But luckily, five people have now been removed alive and another five have been located after volunteers heard muffled shouting from under the snow.
Italian rescue workers unexpectedly found the boy alive in the wreckage
A young girl and another boy are among the survivors, along with the three men and two women who were discovered trapped under a slab of rock buried in the snow.
Journalists at the scene are reporting four children and a woman were pulled clear on Friday from the wreckage - with five others still alive.
Rescue workers confirmed they could hear the voices of at least multiple survivors coming from beneath the ground and are currently trying to set them free.
Rescuers are at the scene in Italy
So far eight have been found alive in the hotel
One aunt, whose nephew was discovered alive following the avalanche, has expressed her gratitude for recue workers - claiming it was a "wonderful feeling" to know he was okay.
Simona Di Carlo, city councilor, said: "It's a miracle, is a beautiful and indescribable situation, they found my nephew Edoardo. Let me get to him.
"My nephew is alive, now I just want to see him. And if he's alive, maybe his parents protected him.
"I never lost hope, even though I have been crying for two days."
Rescue workers are at the scene of the avalanche and are searching the hotel
Her nephew Edoardo was in Rigopiano with his parents, Sebastiano Di Carlo and his wife Nadia, who live in Loreto Aprutino.
Emergency medical helicopters have arrived and the process of getting the lucky survivors to a medical facility is now well underway.
A spokesman for the fire department, Luca Cari, confirmed two people had been pulled out so far and they are waiting to extract the other four - but have to cut through glass to get to them.
Rescuers search for avalanche survivors at submerged hotel
Rescue workers were met with a wall of snow
He said: "They are alive and we are talking to them. This is wonderful news. It brings a feeling of pure joy.
"Rescue workers are still working to extricate them.
"They will be taken immediately to hospital. It's truly a miracle. This will redouble the search efforts.
"We don't know how they survived in the cold or exactly where they were found in the hotel. But we couldn't wish for any better news."
The initial group of six people were found alive on Friday morning, with fire teams swiftly managing to pull two of them - a mother and her young son - to safety from a tangled mass of smashed concrete.
Rescuers clapped and shouted "bravo" as the pair were brought to the surface, led to nearby stretchers and carried by helicopter to hospital for a health check.
it is believed the group were found in the hotel kitchen area which was not crushed by the tonnes of snow that obliterated much of the four-storey building.
Rescuers are desperately trying to free the six survivors, which includes a little girl
Tonnes of snow obliterated the four storey hotel
Marco Bini, a rescue worker from Italy's finance police, said: "They survived thanks to this bubble of air that formed inside the hotel."
So far two bodies have been found and Italian news media said two other bodies have been located.
More than 7,000 people worked through the night in a bid to carve a path through the thick snow, which came hurtling down the mountain side after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in the town of Farindola.
State police arrive in Abruzzo as avalanche buries a hotel
This is the location of the Hotel Rigopiano
He added it appeared that they had been trapped in a bedroom of the four-storey building for about 42 hours.
In places the snow was mounded 13ft high.
The number of survivors is expected to rise.
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