초대형 눈사태에 호텔 투숙객 30명 사망 추정…충격에 빠진 伊 Hopes fade of finding survivors buried under avalanche in Italy: VIDEO
Hopes fade of finding survivors buried under avalanche in Italy
An aerial photograph of the hotel after the avalanche (Photo: Twitter/@emergenzavvf) source mirror.co.uk
눈더미에 호텔 10ｍ 이동…젠틸로니 총리 "유례없는 위기"
구조 당국 "생존자 남아 있다는 징후 발견 못해"
폭설과 지진이 결합하며 초래된 최악의 눈사태가 이탈리아 중부의 작은 산간 마을의 호텔을 덮치며 약 30명이 목숨을 잃은 것으로 추정되자 이탈리아가 큰 충격에 빠졌다.
이탈리아 구조 당국은 19일 오전 이탈리아 중부 아브루초 주 페스카라 현의 파린돌라에 있는 호텔 '리고피아노'에 거대한 눈사태가 덮쳐 투숙객과 호텔 직원 등 30명이 실종됐다고 밝혔다.
현지 뉴스통신 안사는 당국이 현재까지 희생자 시신 3구를 수습했다고 보도했다.
구조 당국은 호텔 내부 곳곳에 쌓여 있는 거대한 눈과 붕괴된 건물의 잔해 더미를 헤치며 구조 작업을 벌이고 있으나 생존자가 남아 있다는 징후를 발견하지 못했다고 말해 대량 인명 피해가 우려되는 상황이다. 실종자 가운데에는 어린 아이들도 포함돼 있는 것으로 알려졌다.
일부 투숙객들은 산사태 직후 "추위에 죽어가고 있다. 도와달라"는 절박한 휴대전화 메시지를 보내기도 한 것으로 보도됐으나, 지금은 호텔에 정적만이 감돌고 있다고 구조 당국은 전했다.
눈사태에 파묻혀 30명이 실종된 이탈리아 중부의 호텔
눈사태에 파묻혀 30명이 실종된 이탈리아 중부의 호텔
이탈리아 중부 아브루초 주의 산간 마을 호텔에 지진으로 유발된 눈사태가 닥쳐 약 30명이 사망한 것으로 추정된다. [EPA=연합뉴스]
폭설로 대부분 도로가 끊긴 탓에 헬리콥터 편이나 스키를 탄 채 눈밭을 헤치고 가까스로 현장에 당도한 구조대는 쌓인 눈으로 중장비를 동원하지 못해 겨우 삽 등의 장비만으로 잔해 더미를 헤치며 생존자 구조와 희생자 수습에 나서고 있다.
최근 며칠 간 최대 2ｍ의 폭설이 내린 이 지역에는 전날 규모 5.2∼5.7의 지진이 4차례 잇따른 탓에 약해진 지반이 눈사태를 유발한 것으로 추정된다.
호텔 투숙객 중 가까스로 구조된 2명 중 1명인 잠파올로 파레테(38)는 안사통신에 "차에서 물건을 꺼내기 위해 호텔 밖으로 나간 순간 거대한 눈더미가 쏟아져내려왔다"며 "아내와 두 아이가 무너진 호텔 잔해에 갇혀 있다"며 절규했다.
파레테의 지인은 눈사태 당시 이들 가족이 숙박 요금을 계산하고 떠나려던 참이었다고 전해 눈사태는 일련의 지진 직후인 18일 정오를 전후해 발생한 것으로 보인다고 현지 언론은 분석했다.
황기철 콘페이퍼 에디터
Ki Chul Hwang, conpaper editor
By Roberto Mignucci | PENNE, ITALY
Hopes of finding survivors dwindled on Thursday more than 24 hours after an avalanche struck a luxury mountain hotel in Italy burying up to 30 people under tonnes of snow and debris.
The Civil Protection department said just two bodies had been recovered but its chief said the search for victims and possible survivors would continue through the night.
"There is always hope, if there were no hope the rescuers wouldn't give everything they've got," Fabrizio Curcio told reporters. He said his teams would "continue to do everything possible during the night," even though conditions were far more difficult than in daytime.
The damage inside the hotel (Photo: GUARDIA DI FINANZA) source mirror.co.uk
The disaster struck hours after four earthquakes with a magnitude above 5 hit central Italy.
Titti Postiglione, head of the department's emergency office, said more snow could fall from peaks in the Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region because the temperature was rising, while further quakes were possible.
"This is an enormously complex rescue operation," she said.
The gabled peaks of parts of the roof and a row of windows were the only sections of the four-storey Hotel Rigopiano visible after the wall of snow smashed into the four-star spa resort on Wednesday evening.
"This is a tragedy of enormous proportions," said Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin.
Local authorities said about 30 people had been in the building at the time, including two children. The only survivors found were two men who had been outside when the disaster struck.
"The hotel is almost completely destroyed. We've called out but we've heard no replies, no voices," said Antonio Crocetta, a member of the Alpine Rescue squad.
"We're digging and looking for people," he told Reuters by phone from the isolated location.
SNOW DRIFTS
Rescue workers entered what appeared to be a lobby decorated with oil paintings and plants, where a landslide had torn through a wall, television footage showed.
Mattresses and furniture were spotted dozens of meters (yards) away and sniffer dogs were helping with the search.
"I am alive because I went to get something from my car," Giampiero Parete told medical staff. Italian media said he had been on holiday with his wife and two children, who are missing.
Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni called for national unity, saying Italy was caught in an "unprecedented vice" of earthquakes and heavy snows.
The rescue operation was hampered by deep snow which has fallen on the Gran Sasso in recent days. Drifts made snow as deep as five meters (16 feet) in some places and snow ploughs struggled to cut a path up winding mountain roads.
The first rescuers arrived at 4.30 a.m. (0330 GMT) after having to ski through a blizzard to reach the site. After dawn broke, emergency services sent in helicopters.
A base camp for rescue workers was set up in the town of Penne, some 10 km (6 miles) away, where ambulances waited.
The avalanche shunted the 43-room hotel, which is 1,200 meters (4,000 ft) above sea level, about 10 meters down the hill, according to media reports.
Italian media said guests at the hotel had checked out and were waiting for a snow plough to arrive to open up the road and let them down the mountain when the avalanche struck.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella, Valentina Consiglio, Steve Scherer and Gavin Jones; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-quake-avalanche-idUSKBN1530TR
kcontents
kcontents
