Death toll from avalanche in Italy officially 23, with 6 still missing

Hopes faded Tuesday that any more survivors of the devastating avalanche that buried an Italianhotel would be found after the death toll rose to 23.

While the search continued,a helicopter ferrying an injured skier off the slopes crashed Tuesday into a mountainside in the same area, killing all six people two pilots, three crew members and the skier aboard.Some of the rescue team onboard had been working at the avalanche site about 100 kilometres away.

Television footage and photographs from the scene showed the helicopter was smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact. Rescue crews brought the bodies down in sleds to waiting vehicles

Firefighters located several bodieswithin a few hours Tuesday, more than doubling the death toll six days after the disaster. Rescue crews had been buoyed by the discovery of three of the Hotel Rigopiano's resident puppies, though they stressed that the sheepdogs were found in a boiler room far from where the missing were thought to be.

Firefighter spokesman Alberto Maiolo said search crews aided by excavators were finally able to penetrate the snow-covered central part of the hotel the bar and kitchen area for the first time and found the bodies. He said there were no signs of life.

• Avalanche destroys Italian hotel, 2 bodies found and dozens of people missing

"Logically, hopes fade as time passes, but we are continuing to search and trying to do it as quickly as possible," he said.

The first funerals were held Tuesday, with crowds gathering under a steady rain outside the hilltop church in Farindola to pay their respects to Alessandro Gincaterino. The chief waiter at the hotel was among the first victims pulled from the rubble.

Prosecutors are investigating whether a series of missed communications, underestimations of risks and delays in responding to days of heavy snowfall contributed to the toll from the Jan. 18 avalanche. In addition, they are looking into the original construction of the isolated resort and whether it should have been open for business at all in such conditions.