Italy marked a day of national mourning on Saturday for 290 people killed in a quake that devastated parts of its mountainous heart, holding a state funeral for 35 of the victims.
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There are fears more bodies will be recovered in Amatrice, a holiday spot that was packed with visitors when the powerful quake struck in the early hours of Wednesday.
Although rescuers continued to scour the mounds of rubble – all that remains of most buildings – there was little hope of finding survivors.
The first funerals were scheduled for some of the victims, with the government declaring a day of national mourning and a state funeral scheduled for Saturday. Mattarella also met and thanked rescue workers, who have been working since early Wednesday to save people trapped in rubble and recover the dead.
“You had already stopped breathing, but I want you to know up there that we did all we could to get you out of there”.
Premier Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella are slated to attend.
This still image taken from video shows the destruction in Amatrice, central Italy, where a 6.1 natural disaster struck just after 3:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. “My thoughts are with them because there are people who have lost everything; homes, loved ones and the sacrifices made in life”.
It said that 230 people have died in Amatrice, 11 in Accumoli and 49 in Arquata del Tronto. The surviving child, Giorgia, turned 4 Saturday. Other funerals took place Friday, with the majority still to come.
The authorities say they will continue to search until they are certain everyone is accounted for. “You feel a sense of weakness, of depression”, said Fiore Ciotto, a resident of Ascoli Piceno who attended the funeral.
Then there’s the coffin of nine-year-old Giulia, beside which sit her distraught parents, her mother with her leg in plaster and her father with a distant shellshocked look.
A day of national mourning has begun in Italy for the nearly 300 people who died when a powerful quake hit mountainous central regions.
There were 224 deaths in Amatrice, with the rest in nearby towns. But the clear-up operation needed first has been hampered by powerful aftershocks – more than 1,300 since Wednesday – which have closed winding mountain roads, damaged key bridges and made life risky for exhausted emergency services.
One person in particular who was clearly able to sympathise and empathise with the relatives was Agnese Renzi, wife of the prime minister. The strongest, at 4:50 a.m., had a magnitude of 4.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.
The Italian institute and other authorities say the quake caused the ground below Accumoli to sink 20 centimeters (8 inches), according to satellite images.
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Many of those who survived but were rendered homeless have gone to live with relatives in Rome and elsewhere but more than 2,000 who could not have been spending the night in tent villages.
