An emergency relief helicopter believed to be carrying six people crashed in a mountainous area of central Italy on Tuesday but there was no immediate information about possible casualties, officials said.A spokesperson for the civil protection department said that according to first reports it had picked up a person injured in a skiing accident and came down near the Campo Felice resort."The area where it came down is hard to access at the best of times, and thick fog is making it even more difficult," a police spokesman told AFP.

"Several teams are trying to get there."

The helicopter issued a crash signal and the police had received reports of a loud explosion being heard, the spokesman said.

Italian media reported that the helicopter was heading back to a hospital in the provincial capital of L'Aquila after picking up the injured skier.

Campo Felice is located close to the epicenters of recent earthquakes and last week's deadly avalanche.

It is a small resort popular with day-trippers from Rome, which is only 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of it.

The resort is at 710 meters (2,330 feet) altitude but the ski area goes up to just over 2,000 meters.

Police said there was no link to the recent seismic activity or the avalanche.

The accident happened as firefighters, mountain police and other emergency services are grappling with the aftermath of the earthquakes, the heaviest snowfalls experienced in decades and the avalanche that swamped the Hotel Rigopiano last week.

The Rigopiano is located on the other side of Monte Gran Sasso, the near 3,000-metre peak that dominates the area.