Rigopiano Hotel avalanche: Last bodies recovered by rescuers

The bodies of a man and a woman have been pulled
 from a hotel in Italy that was hit by an avalanche, 
bringing the final death toll to 29.

Forty people were at the Hotel Rigopiano in Abruzzo when
 it was engulfed by snow on 18 January.

Eleven survived. Nine people, including four children, 
were pulled out alive.

Prime Minister Paulo Gentiloni has acknowledged that 
local officials did not take initial reports of the
 avalanche seriously enough.

But he told parliament on Wednesday, that it was not
 the time to find scapegoats in connection with the disaster.

The avalanche - weighing some 120,000 tonnes 
- hit the luxury hotel with a speed of about 100km/h
 (60mph).

Post mortem examinations on six victims found 
that most died from physical trauma when the 
structure collapsed, prosecutors say, though some 
showed signs of hypothermia and asphyxiation.

Mr Gentiloni said that a criminal investigation was 
under way.

Some reports suggested the local prefect's office at 
Pescara had not taken seriously calls for help from two 
people who escaped the hotel.

Rescuers reached the site several hours after the
 disaster. They had to travel to the hotel on foot 
because roads had been blocked by heavy snow.

Stefano Feniello, 28, was one of the victims whose body 
was recovered yesterday, according to Ansa news agency.

Alessandro Riccetti, the hotel's 33-year-old receptionist, 
was also identified among the dead yesterday by the 
mayor of Terni, Leopoldo Di Girolamo, though it is 
unclear when his body was found.