Ten people have been found alive in the wreckage of the Rigopiano Hotel in the Apennine mountains.
Four earthquakes hit the region on Wednesday,
triggering an avalanche that completely destroyed the hotel.
In conversation with
The Telegraph, members of the rescue crew said that the ten people, four of whom are children, survived the freezing temperatures because the snow insulated them "like an igloo".
The group managed to find shelter in a small attic space and rescuers worked to pull them from the rubble today.
Sadly, two bodies were recovered from the wreckage yesterday and it's believed that there could be further fatalities as there were up to 30 people in the building at the time of the avalanche.
A spokesperson for the Italian alpine rescue service, Valter Milan, said:
"Conditions are hard. We are dealing with a very difficult combination of circumstances, a mix of earthquake and avalanche conditions. Some parts of the hotel are covered by five metres of snow".
