Four more survivors have been pulled from the rubble of a hotel in Italy that was crushed by an avalanche following a series of earthquakes.

Emergency services were working as families waited to hear if missing relatives had been found.

Up to 30 people were still unaccounted for following Wednesday’s avalanche, which buried the four-storey Hotel Rigopiano in Abruzzo in the the Gran Sasso mountains of central Italy under five metres of snow.

The overnight rescue operation raised the number of people found alive in the ruins to at least nine, although there seemed to be confusion over the number of people rescued. One firefighter said 11 people had been found alive.

Two people escaped the avalanche just before it struck, including tourist Giampiero Parete, a chef, who sounded the alarm.

He was reunited with his wife and two children after they were among the first to be extracted from the debris.

The hotel’s dogs also survived and have now been reunited with their puppies, AFP reported.

The white Maremma sheepdogs, called Lupo and Nuvola, meaning Wolf and Cloud, who were born and raised in the hotel, were initially thought to have died in the avalanche.

But they were found on Thursday four kilometres away from the hotel.

In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Firefighters vehicles make their way to the hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Rescuers make their way to the hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy. A hotel in the mountainous region hit again by quakes has been covered by an avalanche. Italian media say the avalanche covered the three-story hotel in the central region of Abruzzo AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel a convoy of emergency vehicles en route to hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola (Pescara), Abruzzo region. According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region. Authorities believe that the avalanche was apparently triggered by a series of earthquakes in central Italy EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Two dogs wonder past a vehicle and mounds of snow at a nearby sports ground in Montereale. Several people have died after a ski hotel was buried by an avalanche in earthquake-hit central Italy, local media reported quoting rescue services. 'There are many dead,' Antonio Crocetta, the head of a group of Alpine police that was trying to reach the cut-off hotel Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel The hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola (Pescara). According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel A mountain view from the main road to Monterale, after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the region. Several people have died after a ski hotel was buried by an avalanche in earthquake-hit central Italy Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Piles of snow and rubble cascading down the stairway into the foyer of the hotel Rigopiano in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel A man being escorted by Alpine policemen outside the Hotel Rigopiano, near the village of Farinfola, on the eastern lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain. Up to 30 people were feared to have died after an Italian mountain Hotel Rigopiano was engulfed by a powerful avalanche in the earthquake-ravaged centre of the country. Italy's Civil Protection agency confirmed the Hotel Rigopiano had been engulfed by a two-metre high wall of snow and that emergency services were struggling to get ambulances and diggers to the site Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel An Italian firefighters helicopter flies during rescue operations in the area where an hotel was hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel An aerial view of the Rigopiano Hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Firefighters during rescue operations at hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Pescara. EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region. Authorities believe that the avalanche was apparently triggered by a series of earthquakes in central Italy EPA

Local resident Martina Rossi, who worked at the hotel but was not there when the avalanche struck, told AFP about the moment she found the dogs.

"I saw them in the street about 9.30 pm on Thursday night, and my heart started beating very fast," she said.

"I called their names and they recognised me, I was so happy. I have no idea how they got there."

The hotel owner was still missing so another resident has taken the dogs in and adopted their newly born litter of puppies.