'Help, we are dying of the cold': Desperate guests trapped in Italian ski hotel send texts to loved ones after massive avalanche hits the building killing up to 30 people

One message, believed to have been sent from inside Hotel Rigopiano (inset, right), in Farindola, Italy, said 'Help, help, we are dying of the cold' while another, sent from outside, urged those still caught inside to 'be calm'. Some trapped guests are reported to have
sent texts directly to emergency services with phone lines in rooms cut off by the force of the avalanche. The mountain hotel was crushed under a 6ft wall of snow (right) yesterday as four earthquakes hit the central Italian region of Abruzzo. Mountain emergency crews using cross country skis trekked six miles through the night to reach the hotel, battling through 15ft of snow which has fallen in a matter of days. There are reports this morning that as many as 30 people - guests and staff - are missing after snow engulfed the three-storey hotel, causing part of it to collapse (main), filling corridors with snow and rubble (bottom left) and shifting the building 30ft. Two people have been rescued with one seen being led from the scene top left).