The death toll from an avalanche in central Italy has climbed to 12, with 17 people still missing under a mountain resort buried by tons of snow and rubble.
Firefighters located five more bodies overnight and the search was continuing Tuesday in hopes that someone might still be alive six days after the disaster. Rescue crews were buoyed by the discovery Monday of three of the Hotel Rigopiano’s resident puppies, though they stressed that the white sheepdogs were found in a boiler room far from where the missing are thought to be.
The first funerals will be held Tuesday.
Prosecutors are investigating whether a series of missed communications, underestimations of risks and delays in responding to days of heavy snowfall contributed to the toll from the Jan. 18 avalanche.
An Italian Forestry Corp officer officer holds one of three puppies that were found alive in the rubble of the avalanche-hit Hotel Rigopiano, near Farindola, central Italy, Monday, Jan. 22, 2017. Emergency crews digging into an avalanche-slammed hotel were cheered Monday by the discovery of three puppies who had survived for days under tons of snow, giving them new hope for the 23 people still missing in the disaster. (Alessandro Di Meo/ANSA via AP)
