Bad weather prevented a helicopter from airlifting to hospital a mother and baby suffering from hypothermia after they were dug out of a snowbound village in Italy's quake-hit Abruzzo region on Wednesday.
"Difficulties transporting the mother and baby [to hospital] by helicopter. The operation is continuing by road," Italy's fire brigade said in a tweet at 17.15 pm local time.
Rescuers pulled the woman and her baby boy alive from building that had collapsed in the mountainside town of Castiglione Messer Raimondo in the province of Teramo after four strong earthquakes struck the area on Wednesday.
Several people tweeted photos to Italy's civil protection agency of buildings buried in snow in the town of Campotosto in Abruzzo's province of L'Aquila - the epicentre of Wednesday's quakes.
"This is our situation. There are people inside and there is no sign of any help," read a tweet from @Black70Mamba.
"Hurry up!" wrote @ellellevercillo.
There have not been any reports of fatalities after Wednesday's earthquakes in Italy's snowbound mountainous spine.
But hundreds and hundreds of animals have died of cold due to "bureaucratic problems" since the earthquakes, Italian animal rights' organisation Enpa said in a statement on Wednesday.
Up to 90 animals were injured and killed after two stables collapsed in the quake in the area between the towns of Amatrice and Accumoli in northern Lazio, Enpa said.
Agricultural association Coldiretti urged Italy's authorities to step up efforts to reach farmers trapped in their snowbound homes for several days unable to feed or milk their animals, which risk dying of hunger, cold and thirst.
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