Death toll from collapsed building in Sicily raises to seven

Death toll from collapsed building in Sicily raises to seven
December 13, 2021, 8:07 am

Representative image-Explosion/Pixabay

The Arab News reported according to the AFP that officials said, rescuers on Monday found four more bodies in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Sicily after a massive explosion probably caused by a gas leak, raising the official death toll to seven.

“The search continues unabated” for two more people missing after four residential buildings toppled to the ground late Saturday in the southern town of Ravanusa, the island’s civil protection unit said on Facebook.

The latest victims were found at dawn.

A photograph posted on the region’s firefighting service twitter account showed firefighters standing on the rubble, as “a fresh day of searching painfully begins.”

Italy-Sicily/Pixabay

Two women were recovered alive from the debris early on Sunday after being found by sniffer dogs, but rescuers have not heard further signs of life.

The blast leveled four structures, including a four-story apartment building, in the central residential district of the town of nearly 11,000 inhabitants, according to the civil protection unit.

Images from the scene showed a mass of concrete rubble, wooden beams and mangled steel in a large empty space, with neighboring buildings charred and damaged.
An investigation has been opened into the cause of the explosion, which authorities said was most probably a gas leak.

Natural gas distributor Italgas said in a statement it had received no reports of gas leaks in the week leading up to the incident.

It said that no construction work was under way in the section of pipeline affected in the blast and the town’s distribution network was fully inspected in both 2020 and 2021.

Local resident Calogero Bonanno said “neighbors had told me there was a smell of gas.”

He was cited as saying by Italian media: “I heard a tremendous roar, as if a bomb had gone off or a plane had crashed into the house."

He said after fleeing along with his wife, three children and in-laws: “Then the window frames exploded. We immediately went down to the street, there was fire everywhere, rubble all around."

“It’s a miracle we’re alive.”

Source: arabnews

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