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Four more bodies pulled from collapsed building in Sicily

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, officials said.

Published: 13 December 2021 09:50 CET
A member of Italy’s state police.
A member of Italy’s state police. Photo: Alessandro FUCARINI / AFP

“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”.

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 levelled four structures, including a four-storey 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 neighbouring 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.

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, it said.

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

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

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

“It’s a miracle we’re alive”.

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VOLCANO

IN PICTURES: Sicily’s Mount Etna puffs ‘smoke rings’ in rare show

Near-perfect circles of gas emerged from Mount Etna in a rare display captured on camera by residents and tourists over the weekend.

Published: 8 April 2024 09:46 CEST
IN PICTURES: Sicily's Mount Etna puffs 'smoke rings' in rare show

A new crater opened on the summit of Europe’s largest active volcano leading to an unusual display of ‘smoke rings’, with thousands recorded in recent days, reported La Repubblica.

Boris Behncke, researcher at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Catania, said they were called “volcanic vortex rings”, rings of volcanic gas emitted by Etna “more than any other volcano on earth”.

The rare phenomenon occurs only in very specific conditions generated by a constant release of gas and vapours.

The volcano has emitted thousands of spectacular rings since last Tuesday, which has led local media to dub it Lady of the Rings (or Signora degli Anelli in Italian). 

Experts have said the rings are harmless and aren’t necessarily a prelude to an imminent eruption.

A volcanic tremor and “about six summit explosive events” were recorded below the volcano’s southern crater on Sunday afternoon, INGV said.

Other major emissions of rings occurred in February 2000 and July 2023.

At 3,324 metres (nearly 11,000 feet), Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and eruptions have been frequent over the past 500,000 years.

Last May, the volcano released large amounts of volcanic ash and smoke in the air, forcing local airport authorities to halt all flights to and from the nearby airport of Catania, a popular tourist destination in eastern Sicily.

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