Rigopiano avalanche

Rigopiano avalanche

Rigopiano avalanche
Date	18 January 2017 (2017-01-18)
Time	16:48 local time
Location	Rigopiano, Abruzzo, Italy
Coordinates	42°25′52″N 13°46′58″E
Cause	Earthquakes and/or heavy snowfall
Participants	40 (28 guests, 12 employees)
Deaths	29
Non-fatal injuries	11
Survivors	11

On the afternoon of 18 January 2017, a major avalanche occurred on Gran Sasso d'Italia, a mountain in Rigopiano, a tourist destination in the province of Pescara, in Southern Italy's Abruzzo region. The avalanche struck the luxury resort Hotel Rigopiano, killing twenty-nine people and injuring eleven others. The avalanche is the deadliest in Italy since the White Friday avalanches in 1916, and the deadliest avalanche in Europe since the Galtür avalanche in 1999.

Avalanche

It was reported that shortly after a series of earthquakes hit the region, many of the hotel guests were gathered on the ground floor of the hotel awaiting evacuation when the avalanche struck. At the time, there were forty people in the hotel including twenty-eight guests and twelve employees. Upon impact, the avalanche caused part of the roof of the hotel to collapse, and moved it 10 metres (33 ft) down the mountain. Italian authorities estimated that the avalanche weighed between 40,000 and 60,000 tonnes when it hit the hotel and that the weight of the snow increased to 120,000 tonnes as the snow and ice pressing down on the building became heavier.

Rigopiano Hotel before and after the avalanche

The avalanche largely destroyed the four-star resort Hotel Rigopiano, killing twenty-nine people. A total of eleven people were rescued following the avalanche. This figure includes two people who survived the avalanche because they were standing outside the hotel when the avalanche hit. Ten out of the eleven people rescued received minor injuries related to hypothermia. The eleventh person also received a compression injury to his upper arm, which he underwent surgery for. On 23 January, rescuers recovered a seventh body, but also located three puppies alive under the snow, indicating that the twenty-two people missing may still be alive. However, it was later revealed that no one else had survived the avalanche.

Two causal factors for the avalanche of 2017 include a series of earthquakes that struck the region earlier in the day and the record snowfall which occurred in the region for days prior to the avalanche.

Response

First responders had difficulty reaching the hotel due to large amounts of snow which had fallen for several days prior to the accident, and did not arrive at the scene until 04:30 local time (03:30 GMT). When rescuers arrived on scene, they stated that the hotel had been buried under at least four metres (13 ft) of snow, and that it could take days before they would know if there were any survivors. In addition, a base camp for rescue workers with ambulances was set up in the town of Penne, approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) away.

There was criticism over the amount of time it took emergency services to respond to the accident. A person who was trapped in the hotel following the avalanche called authorities for help, but allegedly Italian authorities did not at first believe that the accident had happened. Quintino Marcella, the owner of the restaurant L'Isola Felice in Silvi, received a call from the trapped individual and attempted to contact authorities on numerous occasions but was purportedly not taken seriously. On 23 January, local newspapers reported that prior to the avalanche, the owner of the hotel sent an email to local authorities expressing his concern for the hotel guests due to their panicky nature following the earthquakes. He stated that many hotel guests were planning on spending the night in their cars, out in the open.

Legal actions

On 22 January, the mayor of Farindola, Ilario Lacchetta, announced that he was planning on filing a lawsuit against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for allegedly publishing a cartoon mocking victims of the disaster. The cartoon depicts Death riding the avalanche down the mountain on skis holding two scythes instead of ski poles. Lacchetta stated that the cartoon "goes beyond bad taste," and was just as offensive as a similar satirical cartoon published by the same company, which mocked victims of the Amatrice earthquake in August 2016.

Prosecutors launched a manslaughter investigation of the failure of authorities to respond to reports of an avalanche for many hours. In addition, an investigation was launched to determine whether Hotel Rigopiano was built on the debris of several previous avalanches which had taken a similar route down the mountain, therefore putting the hotel in danger.

See also

• 2009 Schalfkogel avalanche, the deadliest avalanche in Austria since 2000
• 2016 Geier avalanche, a deadly avalanche which struck Austria one year prior
• January 2017 Central Italy earthquakes
• January 2017 European cold wave, an ongoing cold wave which is associated with record cold temperatures and snowfall which precipitated the avalanche
• Valfréjus avalanche, a deadly avalanche which struck France one year prior
• Winter of Terror, a series of deadly avalanches in Austria during the winter of 1950-51

External links

• 60-minutes interview