Italian rescue helicopter 'crashes in mountains' near avalanche site

(AP)

An Italian rescue helicopter has crashed in the mountains near the site of a deadly avalanche that killed more than a dozen people last week, according to local media.

The Italian civil protection agency said it was checking reports of the incident, reports of which come six days after the avalanche hit the Hotel Rigopiano near Abruzzo.

The ANSA news agency said six people were aboard the helicopter.

It remains unclear whether the crash was linked to the avalanche rescue effort, which has been a lengthy and protracted process because of the inaccessibility of the avalanche site.

The state-owned TV channel Rai said the helicopter was ferrying someone injured from a nearby ski area in Campo Felice.

​Ornella De Luca of the civil protection agency said it had received information of an incident involving an emergency helicopter, but that the details were not yet clear.

Hopes began to fade on Tuesday that any more survivors would be found from last Wednesday night's devastating avalanche, as the death toll climbed to 15.

The discovery of more bodies left 14 people still unaccounted for.

Firefighter spokesman Alberto Maiolo said search crews aided by excavators were finally able to penetrate the snow-covered central part of the hotel for the first time — the bar and kitchen area — and found the bodies. He said there were no signs of life.

"Logically, hopes fade as time passes, but we are continuing to search and trying to do it as quickly as possible," he said.

The first funerals were held Tuesday, with crowds gathering under a steady rain outside the hilltop church in Farindola to pay their respects to Alessandro Giancaterino.

The chief waiter, one of the first victims pulled from the rubble, had offered to stay for a double shift on 18 January to spare a colleague from having to make his way to the hotel through the snow, which was two to three meters (six to 10 feet) high in some places.

"He was a great hard worker. He was very professional," said his brother, Massimiliano Giancaterino. "This is the memory that I want to keep of my brother, beyond obviously the private ones that I keep in my heart."

Prosecutors are investigating whether a series of missed communications, underestimations of risks and delays in responding to days of heavy snowfall contributed to the toll from the avalanche. In addition, they are looking into the original construction of the isolated resort and whether it should have been open for business at all in such conditions.

Mr Giancaterino, who is also a former mayor of Farindola, said it was useless to speculate now, while an investigation was just beginning, about whether the tragedy could have been avoided.

"Now it is not the time for hypothesis," he said. "It is the time of pain and above all my thoughts go to the friends and relatives of those who are still missing," he said.

Nine people have been pulled out alive from the rubble, three of whom remained in hospital in nearby Pescara.

Additional reporting by AP