Five days after an avalanche buried the Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola, Italy, rescuers found three sheepdog puppies alive in the rubble.
Firefighter Fabio Jerman told Agence France-Presse that this signals there are still air pockets in the collapsed building. "[This is an] important sign of life, which gives us hope," he said. There are 22 people missing, and seven confirmed dead. On Friday, nine people were pulled out of the rubble alive, telling rescuers they survived by eating dirty snow. "It's a race against time, we know we need to go fast, but it's not an easy working environment," said Luca Cari, a fire service spokesman.
Local investigators are looking into whether the hotel should have been built in the area and if guests should have been evacuated. The hotel did send an email to local authorities in the hours before the avalanche, saying people were worried because earthquakes were hitting the region and they were stuck in the snow.
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