Avalanche rescue continues as crews mourn colleagues

PENNE, Italy (AP) – Rescue crews have located an 18th body in the rubble of a hotel crushed by an avalanche even as they mourn colleagues who were killed in a nearby helicopter crash.
The emergency helicopter slammed into a mountainside Tuesday as its crew was rescuing an injured skier. The two pilots, three crew and the skier were killed. Some of the crew had been working at the avalanche site some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away up until Monday.
Eleven people remain under the hotel rubble.
Premier Paolo Gentiloni is to brief parliament on Wednesday on the series of earthquakes, heavy snowfall and the avalanche that have pummeled central Italy in recent days and weeks, and the round-the-clock response by civil protection, firefighter and emergency crews.