Italian firefighters and rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building in Ravanusa, Sicily, Italy, on December 12, 2021. (Italian firefighter Vigili del Fuoco, via AP)
Firefighters in Sicily were looking for six missing people by digging up the rubble of a collapsed apartment on Sunday after at least three people were killed in an explosion that was believed to be caused by a gas leak, officials said.
According to firefighters, the building is occupied by nine members of the extended family, and two visiting relatives (a pregnant woman and her husband) were also on site when an explosion occurred in the town of Ravanusa late Saturday. I was inside.
Two women were rescued overnight. One of them, 80-year-old Rosa Carmina, told La Repubblica every day that the lights suddenly went out and “the ceiling and floor collapsed.” Her sister-in-law, who lived upstairs, also survived and was rescued from under a pile of rubble.
Italian firefighters and rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building in Ravanusa, Sicily, Italy, on December 12, 2021. (Italian firefighter Vigili del Fuoco, via AP)The explosion also destroyed three other buildings that appeared to be vacant and shattered three more windows.
Salvatore Cocina, head of the Sicilian Civil Protection Agency, told ANSA that “certainly the gas leak caused methane bubbles.” He said preliminary findings indicate that the function of the elevator may have caused the explosion, which was supplied by a gas space heater.
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