Children among many feared dead in Italy avalanche

Several children were among more than 25 people unaccounted for, feared dead, today after an avalanche engulfed a mountain hotel in earthquake-ravaged central Italy.

The national civil protection agency said the Hotel Rigopiano had suffered a direct hit by a two-metre high wall of snow yesterday.

Emergency services were struggling to get ambulances and excavation equipment to the remote site with the first snow plough only arriving just before midday.

Italian broadcasters showed images of piles of masonry and rubble inside the hotel, which had been moved some ten metres from its original location by the force of the snow.

Local officials confirmed that one body had been recovered from the ruins and that two guests who were not inside when the avalanche struck had been saved.

Civil protection chief Fabrizio Curcio said there had been around 30 guests and staff at the small ski hotel on the eastern lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain when the first of four powerful tremors rattled the region on Wednesday morning.

Francesco Provolo, the head of the Pescara province where the disaster occurred, said there had been around 20 people staying at the hotel, including "several children" along with seven or eight staff.

Specialist mountain police who had reached the hotel on skis or by helicopter overnight had begun trying to move the rubble with spades.

They were quoted as saying there were no signs of life inside the building while one of their commanding officers told reporters: "There are many dead."

Ambulances were blocked by two metres of snow in the nearest village, Farindola, some nine kilometres away, according to the civil protection agency. Read more

Tata Tiago trains guns on the Celerio, i10 at Rs 3.39 lakh

India's biggest vehicle manufacturer Tata Motors today launched the compact hatchback Tiago at Rs 3.39 lakh petrol (ex-showroom, Mumbai), while the diesel is priced at Rs 4.18 lakh.

The Tiago (formerly named Zica) will compete against Hyundai i10, Maruti Celerio, Maruti Wagon R to name a few in the B Segment space.

The Tiago, promoted by ace footballer Lionel Messi, is built on an all-new platform and will fill the product gap between the Nano and the Bolt as the ageing Indica is now increasingly pushed for commercial usage. 

The Tiago will feature two new engines, petrol (1.2 litre) and diesel (1.05 litre). The 1.2 litre, three cylinder petrol is a new ground up naturally aspirated engine generating peak power of 85ps. This is the first new engine from the gasoline family of Tata Motors. The petrol version has a claimed mileage of 23.84 kmpl

The diesel version, meanwhile, carries the smallest engine yet developed by Tata Motors for passenger application, a 1 litre three cylinder, turbo-charged mill that develops peak power 70ps. The diesel version of the Tiago has a claimed mileage of 27.28 kmpl.

Features like bottle holders on all doors, iPad or tablet holding tray inside the glove compartment, hands-free telephony above the drivers’ head, new fabric for upholstery are not seen on other models.

The Harman-developed but Tata Motors-funded entertainment system is the Tiago’s biggest draw. With eight speakers (a first in the segment) the compact hatchback is made to appeal to the music loving youth. The car will have five variants each of both fuels.

The car will have a multi-drive mode — City and Eco — a feature also seen on the Zest sedan though it has one more drive option Sport. The two drive modes are supported by an advanced Engine Management System.

Tata Motors team spent three years in developing the car and was originally slotted for a commercial launch in January, just before the Auto Expo. Though the car was showcased at the Expo it was not commercially launched.

The Tiago is the first car to flaunt the new Impact design philosophy. The car is developed with inputs from Pune, UK and Italy design studios.

Eager to cash in on demand for automatic transmission Tata Motors will be offering AMT technology on the Tiago as well in later months.

The Tiago will be the third all-new product launch by Tata Motors in 20 months, Zest and Bolt being the two products. Last financial year the company launched the updated Nano called GenX Nano with a host of new features, new styling and an added automated manual transmission (AMT) variant.

business-standard.com

Read More.