Italy avalanche: Adorable puppies rescued from crushed hotel raise hope for more survivors

Adorable puppies rescued from the rubble of a mountain hotel crushed by a deadly avalanche in Italy has sparked hopes more survivors can be found.

Emergency crews removed three dogs from the rubble on Monday after days under tons of snow, giving rescuers renewed hope the 23 people still unaccountable following the disaster may be found alive.

At least six people are known to have died after the avalanche flattened the four-star Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola on Wednesday.

The animals were rescued as the first human survivors were released from hospital as questions intensify into whether Italian authorities underestimated the risks facing the mountain resort in the hours before the avalanche.

Five days after up to 60,000 tons of snow, rocks and uprooted trees ploughed into the Hotel Rigopiano in central Italy, rescue crews were still digging by hand or with shovels and chainsaws in hopes of finding alive some of the 23 people still buried.

Firefighter spokesman Fabio German said the three puppies showed conditions under the snow could still support life.

Emergency crews have been hoping the missing may have found air pockets under the debris, and the snow itself had insulated them from the frigid temperatures.

So far nine people have been rescued from the Hotel Rigopiano and six people have died.

The first survivors were released on Monday from a hospital in the nearby city of Pescara.

But more than two days have passed since anyone has been pulled out alive from the hotel, and rescue crews were still trying to recover the body of the sixth known victim from the rubble.

The investigation intensified, meanwhile, into whether local government officials underestimated the threat facing the hotel, which was already covered with two metres of snow, had no phone service and had dwindling gas supplies when a series of earthquakes rocked central Italy on the morning of January 18.

Italian newspapers on Monday reproduced what they said was an email sent by the hotel owner to local and provincial authorities that afternoon asking for help because "the situation has become worrisome".

"The hotel guests are terrorised by the earthquakes and have decided to stay out in the open," Bruno Di Tommaso wrote.

"We've tried to do everything to keep them calm, but since they can't leave due to the blocked roads, they're prepared to spend the night in their cars."

Additional reporting by Associated Press