The hardest hit towns were Amatrice, Pescara del Tronto and Accumoli, which were close to the epicenter, officials said.
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In the damaged town of Pescara del Tronto, a 10-year-old girl was also pulled alive from the rubble.
The death toll from a 6.2-magnitude natural disaster early Wednesday and several aftershocks in central Italy climbed to 247, the civil protection agency announced early Thursday. Italian news agencies had reported several deaths in the town.
A strong quake hit central Italy, leaving terrified residents huddled outside collapsed buildings overnight and an unknown number of people trapped beneath the rubble.
“There have been reports of victims” in the quake zone, but he did not have any precise details.
Sniffer dogs, earth movers and other heavy equipment are arriving to the quake zone area to help with the rescue efforts and provide for those left homeless by the natural disaster.
Most of the dead – 184 – were in Amatrice, a picturesque medieval town of around 3,000 people.
Italian restaurants around the world have been asked to make €2 donations for every plate of Amatriciana pasta served towards Amatrice, one of the towns devastated by Wednesday’s quake. Emergency services, volunteers and the families of the missing were filmed digging for survivors with their bare hands.
“We had one of the most handsome places in Italy and now we have nothing”, said Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi, in an interview.
She said: “The house in front had collapsed and we stepped from the balcony onto the rubble”.
In a statement Thursday, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini urged Italians to visit museums and Italy’s numerous archaeological sites Sunday “in a concrete sign of solidarity” with quake victims. In some cases, the anti-seismic building standards have been part of the problem, including using reinforced cement for roofs that are then too heavy for weak walls when quakes strike.
As reported by CNN, a series of strong aftershocks have been felt since the initial quake, including a 4.7-magnitude tremor that struck a few miles east of Norcia early on Thursday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Francesca Maffini, a spokeswoman for Italy’s civil protection agency, said that residents in Amatrice were “distraught” and that schools were being used as makeshift shelters for the many who were displaced.
In hard-hit Pescara del Tronto, firefighter Franco Mantovan said early on Thursday that crews knew of three residents still under the rubble, but in a hard-to-reach area.
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While hopes of finding more people alive diminished by the hour, firefighters’ spokesman Luca Cari recalled that survivors were found in L’Aquila up to 72 hours after that quake. Her parents, Martina and Massimiliano, were taken to hospital.
