Hope still as Italy avalanche survivors recount trauma

Survivors of Italy's avalanche disaster ate snow to stay hydrated and sang to keep their spirits up as as they huddled in pitch black, cramped cavities in the mangled wreckage of the Hotel Rigopiano.

The traumatic nature of their life-or-death ordeal emerged Sunday as rescuers insisted they had not abandoned hope of finding some of the 23 other people buried under the icy ruins, despite 48 hours having elapsed since they last detected signs of life.

"We have hope. Even if there are no signs of life, you could drill through a wall and suddenly there'd be contact. That's what happened with the other survivors," said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the rescue operation.
 

Rescue teams were working round the clock with only two-hour rest breaks to ensure the first responders most familiar with the layout maximise their time on site.

The risk of another avalanche remained high and snow and fog continued to hamper the rescue effort in the mountains of central Italy.

Work was focused on reaching a section of the back of the hotel that was protected by a rock buffer.

"We are fairly confident there are rooms intact there," Cari said.

"The problem is getting to them. We don't have much room to manoeuvre, the holes we are climbing down into are narrow, and then we have to break through very thick walls to get into rooms, hoping to find someone inside."

The survivors extracted so far, five adults and four children, were trapped under the snow-blanketed remains of the three-storey building for 40 hours before their first contact with rescue teams.

"I'm Georgia and I'm alive," 22-year-old student Georgia recalled telling the rescuers. "It was the most beautiful thing I've ever said," she said in a hospital bed interview with Corriere della Sera.

Galassi and her boyfriend Vincenzo Forti, 25, had to wait another 18 hours before they were finally extracted in the early hours yesterday, the rescuers having given priority to getting the children out first.

When they emerged, they only had a few bruises and mild hypothermia to show for an experience that started when a wall of snow hurtled into the hotel just after 5.30 pm on Wednesday.