Italian Quake's Toll: 29 Dead
The earthquake that toppled a school in this tiny Italian mountain village killed nearly the entire first grade class. Authorities said the death toll had climbed to 29 and no more bodies were in the rubble.
As emergency crews grimly searched the debris of Thursday's quake — using cranes, sledgehammers, blowtorches and their bare hands, the south-central Molise region was jolted by several aftershocks. One measured 5.3 — nearly as powerful as the 5.4 quake that destroyed the school, officials said.
The new quakes caused at least three injuries and sent panicked residents into the streets, where many were treated for shock. It was not clear if any buildings were damaged. As a precaution, authorities ordered all remaining residents of the town to leave, state TV reported from the scene.
Just before dawn, a 9-year-old boy named Angelo was rescued from the school, police said, the last survivor of Thursday's quake. Rescuers pulled several more bodies out later Friday, including two they mistakenly believed were alive.
Fire Chief Mario Morcone said the final death toll was 29, including 26 children and one teacher in the school and two elderly women who were killed when their homes collapsed.
A rescue worker, in hard hat and covered with dust, said most of the older students were crushed at their desks as the roof crashed down upon them.
"A huge tragedy leaves us with only one certainty. It looks like the first grade class was wiped out," said a local priest, the Rev. Ferdinando Manna.
However, one first-grade girl, 7-year-old Veronica, told reporters Friday from the hospital that she had survived by hiding under a desk.
The quake struck the Campobasso area, 50 miles northeast of Naples, at 11:33 a.m. Thursday. San Giuliano di Puglia, a village of 1,195 people, was hardest hit.
The earthquake occurred as children at the school were preparing to celebrate Halloween, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston. As the building collapsed around them, teachers told the children to hide under their desks, instructions that may have saved many lives.
There were 56 children at the school at the time of the quake, as well as at least four teachers and two janitors.
"I was told I had lost all of my nine first grade pupils," said teacher Clementina Simone, who was pulled from the rubble. "I wanted to go back and help, but the rescuers wouldn't let me."
When the town ran out of child-sized caskets, the small bodies were placed into adult-sized mahogany coffins. A sports complex became a makeshift morgue.
At dawn, emergency crews halted work to listen for sounds from the rubble, but heard nothing. In the hours after the collapse, faint voices had been heard, and rescuers worked furiously to reach the victims. The last survivor, the 9-year-old boy, was pulled out at 3:54 a.m.
Simone recalled a terrifying fight for survival.
"I was holding the hand of a little boy who was saved with me," she said. "A large piece of concrete was hanging over my head and rescuers used an inflatable bag to move it."
A little girl named Lilia told Italian television from her hospital bed that the children were drawing pictures of Pinocchio and getting ready for their Halloween party when the quake struck.
"I heard it crumble, and we screamed," she said, her left hand in a small cast. She was worried about her friend Melissa, she said. "She wasn't near me. I didn't even hear her voice. I don't know if she's still alive."
Pope John Paul II, appearing at his window overlooking St. Peter's Square, offered prayers for the victims and encouragement to survivors and the rescue crews.
Rescue teams from nearby regions poured into the tiny village, and Premier Silvio Berlusconi arrived late Thursday. He said all measures would be taken to help residents.
The government's forestry department conducted an aerial survey of the area hardest hit and determined that about 70 percent of the homes were damaged, suffering either collapsed roofs or cracked walls. About 3,000 people were left homeless, the ANSA news agency said.
On Thursday, a 3.7 magnitude quake hit Mount Etna, the volcano in eastern Sicily which began erupting Sunday. Another quake, of the same magnitude, rattled western Sicily, off the coast of Palermo, Friday morning.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology in Rome said the volcano area and mainland quakes, separated by 275 miles, were not connected.
In 1980, an earthquake in the area of Naples killed 2,570 people and left 30,000 homeless in the southern Campania and Basilicata regions.