The video will start in 8 Cancel

The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The hotel is Rigopiano in Pescara, on the slope of the Gran Sasso mountain, in Italy.The President of the Province of Pescara, Antonio Di Marco, has said emergency services are attending the scene and there are fatalities.

Emergency response units say guests and staff are reported to be missing, and people are trapped under snow.

Local reports said that "many bodies" have been found in the hotel, and rescuers believe as many as 35 people are trapped in the hotel and feared dead.

Rescue work is underway and Italian media report that one body has been recovered from the hotel – but officials have not confirmed this.

(Image: EPA)

Two people were rescued from the site in the early hours of this morning.

Fabio Salzetta was helicoptered to hospital suffering from hypothermia.

Giampiero Parete only survived because he came out of the hotel to get something from his car when the avalanche hit.

The devastated 38-year-old told doctors that his wife and two children were buried in the avalanche.

(Image: TWITTER) (Image: VIGILI DEL FUOCO/TWITTER)

Rescuers on skis reached the buried hotel around 4am local time after their rescue mission suffered severe delays because of the arctic conditions.

Early reports from the scene suggest lights at the hotel were on when rescue teams arrived but no voices could be heard from inside.

All phones are unreachable at the Hotel Rigopiano, according to Italian media, due to heavy snow.

Trapped skiers have tried desperately to contact rescuers on Facebook and WhatsApp.

(Image: GETTY)

A text sent from the hotel read: "Help us. We are dying, here's freezing".

On its website, Italian news agency Ansa quoted the head of a rescue squad that reached the hotel as saying "there are many dead."

Earlier today, three earthquakes hit Rome as dozens were feared injured.

(Image: EPA) (Image: GOOGLE)

It is believed that around 30 guests were staying at the resort hotel.

A blizzard is slowing the rescue down with estimations of arrival times at two to three hours, according to reports.

Snowcats cannot be deployed due to the weather, and instead crews are using skis to try and trek towards the hotel.

One woman, who was a guest at the hotel just two days before the avalanche, told Daily Star Online that it was "snowing a lot".

Tania Di Nicola said: "I hope they find more survivors.

"Unfortunately the hotel is almost entirely covered by snow and guests would definitely at least be on floor where the spa is."

(Image: GOOGLE MAPS)

She added that it was snowing so much on the days she was there that they were asked to leave early.

Her car had to follow a plough to get out of the heavy snow.

She added that she had not heard any avalanche warnings while she was at the hotel.

Di Marco said on Facebook: "Unfortunately this terrible tragedy has occurred. It seems the people are dead, but this has yet to be confirmed."

An avalanche warning was launched early yesterday by Italian authorities after three earthquakes shook the area.

The central Lazio, Marche and Abruzzo regions have been grappling with heavy snowfall.

One man aged 82 died after the snow and one of the tremors caused the roof of a farm building to fall on him, a fire service spokesman said.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said soldiers would help rescue teams get to the affected villages.