Crews are using heavy equipment, shovels and their bare hands, as they pull chunks of cement, stone and metal from mounds of rubble that were once homes.
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Many persons are still believed trapped beneath building debris, while rescuers are struggling to reach remote villages and towns levelled in the quake.
The search went on through the night, and there was a strong aftershock which rocked already damaged buildings.
A 6.2 magnitude quake hit the centre of Italy in the early hours of Wednesday (24 August) morning at 3:30 AM (9:30 AM Singapore), collapsing buildings, roads and other structures in a wide area of medieval towns in central Italy.
The Daily Mirror said the boy’s parents were seriously injured and taken to hospital by rescue teams.
“The town isn’t here anymore”, said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of the hardest-hit town, Amatrice. “We are in continuous dialogue with our European Union and United Nations partners and are keeping an eye on developments so that we can hit the ground running if the question is asked”, said Norlin.
The provisional death toll has jumped to 247, from the 159 listed on Wednesday night, the Civil Protection department said.
On Thursday, the officials said at least 241 people were killed as a result of the quake.
The Italian Red Cross published an unusual announcement today (Thursday) on social media in which they called on residents who live near the site of the natural disaster that hit central Italy to disable their Wi-Fi passwords.
Earlier, the Italian news agency ANSA reported at least 35 were killed in the town of Amatrice, 11 in Accumoli, near Rieti, and 17 in the province of Ascoli Piceno, which includes Pescara del Tronto.
A day after the deadly quake killed 250 people, a 4.3 magnitude aftershock sent up plumes of thick grey dust in the hard-hit town of Amatrice.
The worst affected areas were the towns of Amatrice, Arquata, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto, in the mountainous area 65 miles north-east of Rome.
“There are still so many people under masonry, so many missing”, said Immacolata Postiglione, the head of the Italy’s civil protection unit.
In September 1997, a 6.0-magnitude natural disaster in the area killed 11 and injured over 100, destroying approximately 80,000 homes in the Marche and Umbria regions.
– April 6, 2009: An quake rattles central Italy leaving 309 people dead, around 65,000 homeless and toppling priceless churches and monuments. The owner of the hotel said as many as 30 guests may have been able to escape before the building came down.
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Media reports say about 8,000 Romanians live in the area in central Italy where the quake struck early Wednesday.
