ROME, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Dozens are feared dead after an avalanche crushed a luxury hotel in a mountainous area of central Italy hit by earthquakes on Wednesday, local media reported Thursday.
Up to 30 people are missing, including 20 guests and several employees of the resort, according to local authorities.
Aid workers found a body under the snow in mid-morning, and they feared there were still "many dead," the ANSA news agency cited officials of the Alpine Corp of the Italian army as saying.
The avalanche engulfed the Rigopiano hotel near the village of Farindola in the Abruzzo region Wednesday evening.
Rescuers struggled for hours to reach the location during the night after two survivors were able to launch an SOS call. Heavy snow blocked all roads leading to the hotel, and emergency vehicles had to stop several kilometers away.
Alpine rescuers were able to reach it by skiing at around 4:00 a.m. local time(0300 GMT), according to local media.
One of the two survivors, a 38-year-old man, told aid workers that his wife and two children were still trapped inside the hotel, La Repubblica newspaper reported.
The avalanche that crushed the ski resort was a consequence of strong earthquakes that hit areas in the Abruzzo region on Wednesday.
Four major temblors hit in less than four hours, between 10:25 a.m.(0925 GMT) and 2:33 p.m.(1333 GMT) local time, all measuring above 5 on the Richter scale, according to Italy's National Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (INGV).
The epicenters of the temblors were registered between the provinces of Rieti and L'Aquila, the INGV stated.
Besides the incident at the ski resort, at least one person is dead and another missing due to the quakes. A 83-year-old man was killed by the fallen roof of his home near the city of Teramo, and a second man, 60, is feared dead after a snowslide crushed his home and part of the village of Campotosto.
Central Italy was hit by a series of deadly seismic events last year.
Three major quakes occurred between Aug. 24 and Oct. 30, causing some 300 deaths and forcing thousands of people to live in tent cities or trailers.
