25 JAN 2017: Thirteen people are still missing from under the avalanche that fell upon the Hotel Rigopiano in Central Italy last Wednesday, with funerals underway for some of the twelve people who perished. Yet hopes were high this week as rescuers managed to discover three puppies in the boiler room, which were born only a month before to the hotel’s resident sheepdogs.

Monday’s puppy discovery from an isolated part of the hotel is indicative that there are still air pockets in the ruins, so rescuers are hopeful, with thoughts that some survivors might be trapped in the hotel bar.

As a result, they are trying to punch their way in through the 80cm (2ft 7in) concrete wall of snow that is quickly turning to ice.

Luca Cari, a spokesman for the firefighters  said, “We are working on the theory that the avalanche did not necessarily hit or destroy every room and that we haven’t yet reached the heart of the structure.”

So far eleven people have been rescued, and Cari said emergency crews were working with an ‘operational hypothesis’ that people might still be alive, but admitted that at this point they are fighting against time.

120,000 tonnes of snow hit the resort with an impact of what police describe as 4,000 fully loaded trucks travelling at 100 km per hour.