Frustrated rescuers unable to reach victims
THREDBO, Australia (AP) -- The desperate voices of victims trapped in a landslide began to fade Thursday as frustrated rescuers, unable to move in with equipment, could only look on.
The landslide struck at 11:40 p.m. Wednesday and smashed through two ski lodges, burying 20 people under tons of rubble. Ten hours later, crushed cars were perched precariously on teetering piles of rubble.
... The New South Wales government rushed thermal body-imaging and earth-moving equipment to the site. A geophysicist was being flown in by helicopter to advise rescue teams on how to operate safely.
An 'almighty rush, a thunderous roar'
As many skiers slept, the landslide struck with an "almighty rush, a thunderous roar, a wind," Glenn Milne, a guest in a neighboring lodge, told TV Channel 7, where he is a reporter.
Thredbo Village is a series of narrow streets snaking up terraces on the mountainside. A hillside gave way and a landslide of dirt and uprooted trees smashed into one ski lodge, driving it downhill and dropping it on top of another lodge.
"We heard this tremendous rush, like a tornado, and the building shook," Milne said. The landslide barely missed his lodge, he said.
"We thought nothing odd, incredibly, for about 30 seconds until we heard car alarms going off and we went out on the front balcony of the lodge and the scene was extraordinary."
Trees and cars fell on top of the lodges
The slide brought down tons of rubble. Trees and cars landed on top of the lodges, which pancaked on each other, Milne said.
"We started to pull out pieces of rubble. We could hear three voices. One was definitely a male. I'm unsure about the other two. They were alive in there," he said.
"We were trying to get to them, and the emergency services arrived. They just declared it unsafe and ordered us out.
"They couldn't do anything because of the pancaking effect and the fact that there were all of these cars teetering on the edge at the top, as well as all the other debris.
"It would be a real miracle if they pull anyone out of there. Floors have collapsed on top of each other," he said. Leaking gas was adding to the problems.
A spokeswoman from the Thredbo media office, Suzie Rowland, said the Carinya Ski Club had slid into the adjacent Bimbadeen Staff Lodge. At least 33 people were registered at the buildings.
A state Emergency Services spokesman said it appeared that part of a road behind the two lodges gave way, causing the landslide.
Rescuers were being brought in from nearby Jindabyne, Thredbo and Perisher Valley, as well as Cooma, Canberra and Goulburn to search for survivors. Heavy equipment was being brought into the ski village to dig through the rubble.
THREDBO, Australia (CNN) -- Rescuers found the body of a 10th victim Monday, lowering to eight the number of people missing in a landslide that buried two ski lodges at the Thredbo ski resort Wednesday.
Meanwhile, threats of wet weather that could set off further landslides pushed rescue efforts ahead at a feverish pace.
Twenty people were originally believed trapped under the mud and wreckage when a landslide struck the ski resort 185 miles (300 km) south of Sydney.
That number was reduced to 19 late Monday, when police verified that a woman believed to have been caught in the landslide was alive and well at her country home in New South Wales. Her husband had reported her missing and then failed to notify authorities when he located her after the slide.
Including the body found Monday, 10 people caught in the slide were confirmed dead.
Weather could set off more slides
Only one person has been found alive in the landslide debris. Rescuers on Saturday pulled ski instructor Stuart Diver free from a hollow in the debris where he lay in freezing water and darkness for about 65 hours.
His survival inspired fresh hope of finding others alive in the slide, which flattened the lodges with tons of earth, trees and cars. But as time passed -- and with freezing overnight temperatures -- chances seemed slim. Forecasters expect snow and rain in the area by Wednesday.
Fearing that a downpour could send tons of concrete slabs, twisted metal, dirt and trees crashing further down a hill at the ski resort, rescuers have cleared dirt from the top of the landslide, and arranged for tarpaulins to be draped over a large patch of unstable dirt measuring 3,200 square meters (33,800 square feet).
They also have created a network of tunnels, sometimes burrowing by hand to try to locate any possible survivors.