Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Last child saved after quake hits Italian island

1091165
1091165
minus
plus

Casamicciola Terme, Italy: Rescuers on the Italian holiday island of Ischia pulled the last trapped child from rubble on Tuesday after a magnitude-4.0 earthquake toppled buildings and left two people dead.


Firefighters dug with their bare hands to reach 11-year old Ciro, the last of three brothers buried in debris when the quake struck.


“There was silence for a while, they were tired. Then they began speaking again and we drew comfort from that,” said Luca Cari, a firefighter spokesman.


A woman was killed in Casamicciola, in the north of the small tourist island, by debris that fell from a church, while the body of another was spotted in the rubble of a collapsed house, local media reported.


Firefighters broke into applause as a dusty Mattias, seven, was pulled free from under the bed where he had taken refuge. His 11-year old brother Ciro was the last to emerge, rescued after 16 hours in the dark and loaded into a waiting ambulance.


The boys’ father, whose hands were bandaged after spending the night digging through the rubble alongside the firefighters, could be seen tearfully hugging relatives as his eldest son was saved.


Emergency workers had previously recovered the boys’ seven-month-old brother, Pasquale, crying but alive, after hours of effort overnight. Their pregnant mother had sounded the alarm.


Two small communes, Casamicciola and neighbouring Lacco Ameno, bore the brunt of the quake, according to the civil protection agency.


The quake hit the northwest of the island at 8:57 pm (1857 GMT) on Monday, at a depth of just five kilometres.


Italian authorities first put the quake at a 3.6 magnitude, but later revised it upward to 4.0 — in seismic terms, a modest event.


The main earthquake was followed by 14 smaller aftershocks. Several buildings collapsed while others had large, ominous cracks.


Thirty-nine people were injured, one seriously.


“Italy is united with Ischia in sorrow for, and solidarity with, the victims. We stand side-by-side with those taking part in the rescues,” Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter. — AFP


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon