Ten people have been found alive beneath the rubble of an Italian hotel which was crushed by an avalanche two days earlier.

Key points: Search continues for other survivors

Search continues for other survivors Avalanche hit after multiple earthquakes struck region

Avalanche hit after multiple earthquakes struck region More than 30 believed to be in hotel when avalanche struck

More than 30 people were in the luxury Hotel Rigopiano, located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy, when the wall of snow slammed into it on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Firefighter spokesman Luca Cari said a total of 10 survivors, including two children, had been located but only a few had been extracted.

It was thought none of the occupants had survived until rescuers discovered a small group sheltering in a bedroom which had not been crushed by snow.

"It's hard work. We're having to cut through the roof to get to them," Mr Cari said by phone from the scene of the disaster in the Abruzzo region, adding that it appeared that they had been trapped in a bedroom of the four-storey building for about 42 hours.

Rescue crews also said one group of survivors had been found in the hotel's kitchen area, and had survived thanks to an air pocket that formed when reinforced cement walls partially resisted the avalanche's violent power.

Those being rescued were in remarkably good condition, rescue workers said.

The Farindola mayor said the hotel had 24 guests, four of them children, and 12 employees onsite at the time of the avalanche.

Civil protection agency operations chief Titi Postiglione said survivors would help rescuers try to locate others trapped in the hotel.

"They can give us a series of indications to help with our intervention plan, information to understand what happened and help direct the search," she said.

However, the overall operation has been hampered by fears of triggering new avalanches and building collapses onto possible survivors trapped in the hotel rubble.

Workers have been clearing a 7-kilometre road to bring in heavier equipment, but the mountain road can handle only one-way traffic and is covered with snow and fallen trees and rocks.

'It's a miracle'

The disaster struck during a driving snowstorm, hours after four earthquakes with a magnitude above 5 rattled the area.

Firefighters clapped and cheered after they pulled a young boy wearing a blue sweatshirt from a hole that they had cut in the submerged roof with a power saw, a video showed.

A little later, the boy's mother was brought out. Both were strapped into stretchers so they could be flown to hospital by helicopter.

Mr Cari said they appeared to be in good condition.

"It's a miracle," Deputy Justice Minister Federica Chiavaroli, who was at the rescue staging area, said.

"Rescuers have never given up hope and they never stopped believing. Now their hope has been reinvigorated."

A young girl is also among the survivors.

Officials said two bodies had been removed from the site, while Italian media said two more corpses had been located.

Hotel phones down as earthquakes struck

Rescuers first arrived on the scene about 11 hours after the avalanche. ( AP: Italian Firefighters )

Days of heavy snowfall had knocked out electricity and phone lines in many central Italian towns and hamlets.

The hotel phones went down early Wednesday, just as the first of the four powerful earthquakes struck.

The force of the massive snow slide collapsed one wing of the hotel and rotated another off its foundation, pushing it downhill.

As much as five metres of snow covered much of what is left of the hotel, said Walter Milan, a member of the Alpine Rescue service who was on the scene.

Only sections of the spa and swimming area were intact, he said.

Two men who were outside the hotel at the time managed to escape the avalanche and raise the alarm.

Accusations of slow emergency response

Prosecutors opened a manslaughter investigation into the tragedy and were looking into whether the avalanche threat was taken seriously enough, and whether the hotel should have been evacuated earlier given the heavy snowfall and forecasts.

The first rescuers arrived amid a snow storm on skis early on Thursday morning, some 11 hours after the avalanche.

"That hotel … should it have been open?" prosecutor Christina Tedeschini was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying.

"If the people wanted to leave, what prevented them from doing so?"

Ms Tedeschini added the delay was "a relevant theme that we will look into".

A few relatives erupted in frustration at an evening news conference.

"The only news I have has been from the internet. They haven't given me anything direct," Domenico Angelozzi said. He is awaiting news of his sister and brother-in-law.

Marco Bini, a member of a police squad participating in the rescue, said the team opened a hole in the hotel roof on Thursday night but "heard nothing".

Still, they pushed on, following a floor plan of the hotel until they found signs of life.

Upon seeing their rescuers, the survivors "called them angels," he said.

Guests were waiting for snowplough before avalanche: witness

Giampiero Parete, a chef who was a guest in the hotel, had gone to his car to get headache pills for his wife when the avalanche struck. His wife and two children, aged six and eight, were trapped in the rubble.

Mr Parete said the guests had all checked out and were waiting for the road to be cleared so they could evacuate.

But the snowplough never arrived and the avalanche hit about 5:30pm on Wednesday.

Mr Parete called his boss, Quintino Marcella, at 5:40pm (local time) on Wednesday, just after the avalanche had struck, asking him to call for help.

"He told me: 'The hotel has collapsed'," Mr Marcella said in an interview with RAI state TV, adding that the local prefecture did not immediately believe him.

He kept calling until he was assured help was on the way some two hours later.

Mr Parete's Romanian wife, Adriana Vranceanu, 43, and 8-year-old son Gianfilippo, were reunited later on Friday with their father at the hospital in the nearby city of Pescara, ANSA news agency and state-run RAI radio said.

Rescue workers were still searching for their daughter, Ludovica, 6, after her mother indicated she was alive under the debris.

The Romanian foreign ministry confirmed an adult and child had been rescued and taken to the hospital in Pescara.

The mountainous region of central Italy has been struck by a series of quakes since August that destroyed homes and historic centres in dozens of towns and hamlets.

ABC/wires