The first funerals were held Friday in Pomezia, south of Rome, home of six of the victims, including an eight-year-old boy. The death toll has steadily risen as rescue workers continue to find bodies buried in rubble.
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The Civic Protection agency said Saturday that the man, who was injured in the town of Arquata del Tronto, had been receiving treatment at a hospital in Perugia. At least 250 people died, and thousands were displaced in Italy, after a major quake that struck the central Lazio and Marche regions on early Wednesday, the authorities confirmed on Thursday.
The ministry said Romanian consular authorities were working with information they received from Italian authorities and from Romanian families who have been affected by the quake.
A funeral has begun in Italy for some of the victims of an quake in Italy that devastated three towns this week, killing at least 290 people. “But I ask you not to lose your courage”, Bishop Giovanni D’Ercole said in a homily in the hall, which was packed with grieving families and the nation’s top politicians.
Hundreds of others, including volunteers and firefighters who have helped in the rescue and recovery effort, were also present at the service. The local bishop, Giovanni D’Ercole, celebrated Mass beneath a crucifix he had retrieved from one of the damaged churches in the picturesque area of medieval stone towns and hamlets. “Together, above all, we will be able to restore life to our communities”.
The death toll from a devastating natural disaster in central Italy continues to climb even as the country observes a day of national mourning Saturday, and the first funerals are held for some of the 290 victims.
Before Saturday’s mass funeral, the president visited Amatrice, the town that bore the brunt of destruction with 230 fatalities. It is there that the death toll has been rising. Eleven others died in nearby Accumoli and 50 more in Arquata del Tronto, 10 miles (16 kilometres) north of Amatrice.
Italian authorities say the death toll in an Italian quake has risen to 284 people after three more bodies were recovered overnight from the rubble of Amatrice, the hilltop town that bore the brunt of the devastation.
On Tuesday, a memorial service – without the bodies – will be held for the dead of Amatrice on that battered town’s outskirts.
Why does Italy get earthquakes?
Mattarella arrived by helicopter and was shown the extent of the damage in Amatrice by its mayor, Sergio Pirozzi. The president thanked rescue workers, who have been working non-stop in hopes of still finding some people trapped in the piles of rock and metal debris.
Due to the vast extent of the damage, the president could survey the damage only from the outskirts because it is too unsafe to enter the sealed-off, once-picturesque town centre.
Italy on Saturday observed a day of national mourning for the people who died when a powerful 6.2-magnitude quake hit the mountainous central regions claiming the lives of 290 persons.
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The grisly discovery came as the country began a day of mourning, with a state funeral for some of the victims to be attended by President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Matteo Renzi on Saturday.
