[WATCH] Avalanche hits Italy hotel, at least 30 missing

Two people have been found alive after an avalanche struck a hotel in the mountainous region of Abruzzo, in central Italy, while another person’s lifeless body was pulled out of the snow.

The two people were taken to hospital, one suffering from hypothermia. One of them, Giampaolo Parete, said he had gone to get something from his car when the avalanche hit.

"I am alive because I went to get something from my car," one of the two, Giampiero Parete, told medical staff, according to la Repubblica website.

He told doctors his wife and two children were buried in the avalanche.

Rescuers said up to 30 people are missing and most others appear to be buried under the snow.

The four-storey Rigopiano hotel, located close to the Gran Sasso mountain in central Italy and some 1,200 metres above sea level, was hit by an avalanche overnight.

According to media reports the hotel was shunted some 10 metres down the hill.

The avalanche came after a series of strong earthquakes rattled the area on Wednesday.

The rescue operation was hampered by up to 5 metres of snow which has fallen on the Gran Sasso mountain range in Abruzzo in recent days, with the first rescuers only being able to reach the hotel on skis at 4:00am. After dawn broke, emergency services sent in helicopters.

"We’re dropping our rescue units down by helicopter and they are starting to dig," Luca Cari, spokesman for the national fire brigades, said.

Rescuers most of the four-storey structure submerged under a mountain of snow and debris.

"We haven't been able to do too much. The structure has collapsed. It's more like a pile of rubble than a hotel," Antonio Crocetta, a member of the Alpine Rescue squad who was on the scene, said.

"What is left of the hotel is in danger of collapse. The hotel is almost completely destroyed. We've called out but we've heard no replies, no voices. We're digging and looking for people," he told Reuters news agency.

"Around 30 people are unaccounted for, between guests and workers at the Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola," Fabrizio Curcio, head of Italy's civil protection department, was quoted as saying by Italian media.

Rescuers said at least 20 tourists and seven staff were inside at the time.

"There are many deaths," Antonio Crocetta, the head of a mountain rescue team, was quoted as saying.

A spate of strong earthquakes hit central Italy on Wednesday. Four magnitude 5.2 and higher quakes struck near the hill town of Amatrice, some 100 km northeast of Rome, in the space of four hours. Much of the area had already been abandoned after last year's earthquakes.