Six people have been killed after a helicopter crashed near a ski resort in an area of central Italy still reeling from an avalanche that engulfed a hotel last week.

There were reports of a loud explosion when the emergency response helicopter came down near Campo Felice, a popular ski resort 75 miles east of Rome, during the evacuation of an injured skier.

“The area where it came down is hard to access at the best of times, and thick fog is making it even more difficult,” said a police spokesman. “Several teams are trying to get there.”

Campo Felice, located at an altitude of 710 metres (2,330ft) but with pistes up to just over 2,000 metres, is close to the epicentres of earthquakes that struck the region last Wednesday and were followed by the deadly avalanche.

Police said there was no apparent link between the crash and the seismic activity or the avalanche.

The crash happened as firefighters and mountain police grappled with the aftermath of the tremors and avalanche. A team of first responders who had been helping the rescue effort at the Hotel Rigopiano was dispatched to the helicopter crash site.

The tally of bodies found in the ruins of the Rigopiano rose to 15 on the sixth day of an increasingly forlorn search through the snow-covered wreckage.

Eleven staff and guests survived the disaster – two men who were outside when the avalanche struck and nine people, including four children, who were found on Friday.



Rescuers have refused to give up hope of finding more survivors with morale among the exhausted rescuers boosted on Monday when three live puppies were retrieved from under the rubble.

Italian authorities were meanwhile investigating the chain of events leading to the avalanche to see if the tragedy could or should have been avoided.

A preliminary manslaughter investigation has been opened with the prosecutor in charge looking into whether environmental risks were properly taken into account during the construction and subsequent renovation of the hotel.

Events on the day of the disaster, when guests were unable to leave because of snow-blocked access roads, were also in the spotlight. The local council had only one functioning road-clearance vehicle and had deployed it to reach isolated hamlets with elderly residents rather than clearing the road to the hotel.

A second snowplough had broken down earlier this month and staff were awaiting authorisation to get a €25,000 (£21,500) repair done.

The hotel, a four-star spa facility where George Clooney once stayed, was built into a hillside at 1,200 metres altitude on the eastern slopes of Monte Gran Sasso. Campo Felice is on the other side of the near 3,000-metre peak that dominates the region.

The survivors pulled from the ruins on Friday were all treated for mild hypothermia, suggesting anyone still alive nearly four days later would have had to have found some way of keeping warm.

Rescuers have not ruled that out because they believe some rooms they are trying to reach by tunnelling through thick stone walls may be almost intact. New routes have been dug into the rubble but progress remained painfully slow with the first responders often digging with their bare hands because of fears of masonry or snow slides.

The avalanche occurred three hours after the last of four magnitude-five earthquakes shook the region in the space of four hours.

The first funerals for the victims were held on Tuesday.