Rescuers airlift survivors to hospital from avalanche-hit hotel.

Six people – reportedly four adults and two children – have been found alive at the Abruzzo hotel which was hit by an avalanche on 18 January, following a series of earthquakes in central Italy.

The survivors were being airlifted to hospital at lunchtime on 20 January after being trapped under rubble for almost 48 hours, in temperatures well below freezing, at the Hotel Rigopiano on the Gran Sasso mountain.

At the time of the avalanche there were some 35 people in the four-storey hotel, of which two have been found dead, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by a snowstorm and blocked access routes, and experts say the area remains at risk of further avalanches.

Photo AFP