Authorities say the death toll in the natural disaster that struck central Italy has risen to 291 after a man being treated in a hospital succumbed to his injuries.
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“I am really sad, because some people lost their homes, and lost their business which they may have had for many years, but now they have nowhere to rest and they do not have a certain future”, said Mattia Vollono, local resident.
The worst hit town was Amatrice, which now has 230 confirmed deaths.
In a royal message sent to Italian President Sergio Mattarella and released to local media on Saturday, Sihamoni expressed his deepest sympathy to the bereaved families and wished the injured persons a swift recovery.
More aftershocks were registered in the early hours of Saturday, one with a magnitude of four.
Strong aftershocks rattled residents and rescue crews alike Friday as hopes began to dim that firefighters would find any more survivors from Italy’s natural disaster. The president thanked rescue workers who have been working around the clock, some barely taking breaks for sleeping. Among the victims were two girls, 18-month-old Marisol Piermarini and 9-year-old Giulia Rinaldo, whose younger sister survived beneath the rubble, still holding her dead sibling. Turate said he helped to pull two dead bodies from the rubble, including one young girl.
Mattarella, Italy’s head of state, had earlier paid tribute to the “extraordinary effort” of more than 4,000 rescue professionals and volunteers on a brief visit to Amatrice, the small mountain town hit hardest by the quake.
Emergency services are more confident that they have accounted for everyone in the smaller outlying hamlets to the north of Amatrice – some of which have been so badly damaged there are doubts as to whether they will ever be inhabited again.
Across the area, a cool retreat for those seeking to escape Italy’s hot summers, numerous dead were children and elderly people, some of them visiting grandparents before school resumed. On top of the deaths in Amatrice there were 11 deaths in nearby Accumoli and 49 in Arquata del Tronto.
Due to the vast extent and severity of the damage, he could survey the town only at a distance because it was too risky to enter the sealed-off town center.
Numerous people left homeless by the quake have been spending their nights in tent cities where volunteers have been working to make sure they have basic amenities.
The one-street village of Saletta had less than 20 permanent residents but with its population swollen by summer visitors 22 people died there. Join us in a conversation about world events, the newsgathering process or whatever aspect of the news universe you find interesting or important.
Aftershocks continued to rattle the area overnight, the strongest measuring 4.2.
Italian scientific authorities say that satellite images show that the ground below Accumoli sank 20 centimeters (8 inches) due to the quake.
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Gera reported from Rome.
