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Italy earthquake: Child saved after 15 hours under rubble

Posted at 7:59 AM, Aug 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-22 07:59:37-04

Italian rescue workers have freed the last of three children trapped under rubble following a deadly earthquake on the Italian holiday island of Ischia off the coast of Naples.

Eight-year-old Ciro had been stuck for more than 15 hours, according to rescue services.

They worked through the night to free Ciro's two brothers, first pulling out seven-month old Pasquale, and then his 11-year-old sibling Mattias.

 

 

One woman has been confirmed dead, and another is also believed to be killed but the body has yet to be recovered.

Authorities say 25 people are injured with around 2,600 without shelter. More than a thousand tourists have already evacuated from the island, Italian media reported.

"We have sent away more than a thousand people who wanted to leave and today we set up a structure to assist the population," Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection force told La Republicca newspaper.

He said engineers were checking hotels to make sure they were structurally sound before transferring those whose accommodation was damaged in the quake.

The earthquake hit shortly before 9 p.m. local time Tuesday as many holidaymakers were sitting down to eat. The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 4.3. Italian authorities earlier put it at 3.6, before revising it to 4.

The confirmed victim, an elderly woman, was hit by debris as a church collapsed in the town of Casamicciola on the north of the island, police said.