Italy avalanche toll reaches 23; PM Gentiloni to brief Parliament

Penne:  Rescue crews recovered several more bodies from the rubble of a hotel crushed by an avalanche today, bringing the toll to 23, even as they mourned colleagues who were killed in a nearby helicopter crash.

The emergency helicopter slammed into a mountainside yesterday as its crew was rescuing an injured skier. The two pilots, three crew members and the skier were killed. Some of the rescue team onboard had been working at the avalanche site about 100 kilometres away up until Monday.

Avalanche recovery crews reported the toll from the January 18 disaster at the Hotel Rigopiano stood at 23 dead, with six people unaccounted for under the tons of snow and rubble. Search operations continued.

Premier Paolo Gentiloni will brief parliament later today on the series of earthquakes, heavy snowfall and the avalanche that have pummeled central Italy in recent days and weeks, and the round-the-clock response by civil protection, firefighter and emergency crews.