Rescuers in central Italy have found 10 survivors after an avalanche buried a mountain hotel and six have been pulled out so far. The avalanche struck the Rigopiano hotel, in the Abruzzo region, on Wednesday after several earthquakes. At least four people died and about 20 are still missing. <br/><br/>Deep snow blocking the access road hampered the rescue. Wednesday's earthquakes included four stronger than magnitude 5, in a region already struggling with heavy snowfall that buried phone lines and took out power cables.

Italian rescuers today rescued a mother and son and located eight other survivors in the ruins of a mountain hotel, two days after it was buried under an avalanche. After a day of conflicting updates from the different services involved in the rescue effort, firefighters spokesman Luca Cari confirmed that a total of ten survivors had been found by nightfall.'<br/>'<br/>The mother and her son were guided out and taken to hospital by helicopter. The other eight were still under the<br/>rubble with at least one of them injured. Two other survivors had been found yesterday and two bodies have been recovered so far, leaving at least 13 people unaccounted for.'<br/>'<br/>More than 25 people, including several children, were thought to have been in the hotel when it was hit by a massive<br/>wall of snow. Revised estimates today suggested the total could have been as high as 34. <br/>