8 found alive after Italy avalanche

Penne: Two young children were among eight people pulled alive on Friday from the ruins of an Italian mountain hotel, nearly two days after it was buried under a devastating avalanche.

The rescues raised hopes of finding more survivors with efforts under way to locate between 17 and 24 others thought to have been in the hotel when the avalanche struck on Wednesday afternoon.

Evacuated by helicopter, the rescued survivors were taken to hospitals in the cities of Pescara and Aquila. Some were being treated for hypothermia but no-one was in a serious condition, officials said. They were pulled out after more than 40 hours under the snow-covered rubble of the Hotel Rigopiano.