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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 24 January 2017

3 dogs give avalanche rescuers hope but 22 people missing

PAOLO SANTALUCIA Firefighter spokesman Luca
COLLEEN BARRY Cari, however, stressed
Associated Press that the puppies were
FARINDOLA, Italy (AP) — found in an isolated part of
Italian emergency crews the hotel and didn’t neces-
pulled three wiggling, sarily signal any new hope
white sheepdog puppies for finding human survivors.
out Monday from under “We’re happy to have
tons of snow and rubble saved them, and these
at an avalanche-struck are important moments
hotel, lifting spirits even as in a dramatic situation,”
the search for 22 people he said. “But I don’t think
still missing dragged on five there’s much correlation
days after the disaster. with finding other people.”
One more body was locat- Emergency crews have
ed, raising the death toll been hoping that the 22
to seven, and the first sur- missing people may have
vivors of the deadly ava- found air pockets under
lanche were released from the debris, and that the
the hospital. Questions snow would insulate them
intensified, however, into from the frigid tempera-
whether Italian authorities tures. But more than two
underestimated the risks days have passed since
facing the snowbound re- Rescuers hold three puppies that were found alive in the rubble of the avalanche-hit Hotel Rigo- anyone has been pulled
piano, near Farindola, central Italy, Monday, Jan. 22, 2017. Emergency crews digging into an
sort in the hours before the avalanche-slammed hotel were cheered Monday by the discovery of three puppies who had out alive from the hotel,
deadly avalanche. survived for days under tons of snow, giving them new hope for the 23 people still missing in the and rescue crews were still
Five days after up to 60,000 disaster. trying to recover one victim
tons of snow, rocks and (Alessandro Di Meo/ANSA via AP) from the rubble. Conditions
uprooted trees plowed at the site were deteriorat-
into the Hotel Rigopiano in out after the Wednesday Forestry Corps. “In fact, it them from a little hole the ing, with the heavy snow
central Italy, rescue crews afternoon avalanche. was hard to find them right firefighters had opened in turning to ice.
were still digging by hand “They just started bark- away because they were the wall. Then we expand- So far nine people have
or with shovels and chain- ing very softly,” said Sonia hidden. Then we heard this ed the hole and we pulled been rescued from the Ho-
saws in hopes of finding Marini, a member of the very tiny bark and we saw them out.” tel Rigopiano. q
more survivors. An excava-
tor reached the site, north- Fight for the right: Dutch PM says integrate or leave
east of Rome, to speed up
the search. MIKE CORDER not mention Wilders or his in December of insulting steered the Netherlands to
The discovery of the three Associated Press Party for Freedom, it was and inciting discrimination a strong recovery from the
Abruzzo sheepdog pup- THE HAGUE, Netherlands clearly aimed at winning against Moroccans. He is financial crisis that swept
pies in the boiler room (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister over voters who would like- appealing the conviction, Europe, but his party’s
raised spirits, even as res- Mark Rutte sought to lure ly back Wilders’ hard-line which he branded “shame- popularity has slipped as
cuers located a seventh voters away from anti-im- platform. Rutte, leader of ful.” On Monday, Wilders hit Wilders’ has grown.
body. Jubilant emergency migration lawmaker Geert the center-right People’s back and called Rutte “the Wilders joined right-wing
crews carried the pups out Wilders, as campaigning Party for Freedom and De- man of open borders, the populist leaders from
in their arms, with one fire- for the March 15 national mocracy, said he under- asylum tsunami, mass im- France, Germany, Italy and
fighter burying his face in elections heated up on stands calls for people who migration, Islamization, lies elsewhere on Saturday at a
the fluffy white fur to give Monday. don’t integrate to leave and deception.” meeting Germany ahead
the dog a kiss. The puppies In a full-page newspaper the Netherlands. “I have Polls give Wilders an edge of elections this year that
were born last month to message, Rutte said “we that feeling, too,” he said. on Rutte at the moment. could see major gains for
the hotel’s resident sheep- have to actively defend But he also appeared to But mainstream parties nationalist parties.
dogs, Nuvola and Lupo, our values” against people criticize Wilders’ anti-immi- shun Wilders and it appears “I believe we are witness-
and were prominently fea- who refuse to integrate or gration stance. “The solu- unlikely he will be able to ing historic times,” Wilders
tured on the hotel’s Face- act antisocially. “Behave tion is not to tar people with form a coalition even if he said, the day after U.S.
book page. Their parents normally or go away.” the same brush,” Rutte said. wins the popular vote. President Donald Trump’s
had found their own way
While Rutte’s message did A court convicted Wilders Rutte’s coalition has inauguration.q