Officials said the death toll seemed destined to rise further.
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They were among the hundreds killed and injured when a 6.2-magnitude quake levelled three small towns in central Italy early Wednesday morning. Italy’s Civil Protection said the death toll was at 247 but the number of missing is uncertain given the thousands of holidaymakers in the area for summer’s final days.
Authorities said they expected to confirm more deaths as the search operation continue.
The sun rose on Thursday on many people who had slept in cars or tents, the earth continuing to tremble under their feet.
Italian National Institute of Geophysical and Volcanology (INGV – Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) has registered about 500 aftershocks and said it is closely monitoring the highly seismic area along the Apennine mountain range.
At least three Britons have died in the quake that rocked central Italy yesterday morning. Amatrice’s mayor had initially said 70 guests were in the crumbled hotel ahead of this weekend’s festival, but rescue workers later halved that estimate after the owner said most guests managed to escape.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the epicentre was northeast of Rome, near Norcia in Umbria, while the US Geological Survey (USGS) put the magnitude at 6.2.
Hopes of finding more people alive after Italy’s quake are diminishing by the hour but search teams continue to scour the rubble.
Rescuers have advised journalists and bystanders to leave Amatrice urgently, as “the town is crumbling”, the BBC’s Jenny Hill says.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica said local prosecutors have opened an investigation to determine whether shoddy construction was the cause of some building collapses.
Italian rescue workers managed to pull a 10-year-girl alive from the twisted debris of a collapsed building on Wednesday, almost 17 hours after a 6.2-magnitude natural disaster rocked central Italy.
A 10-year-old girl was pulled out alive from a wrecked home in Pescara del Tronto.
On May 5 the same year, four people are killed in a quake in the southern region of Basilicate.
But in many other cases, wails of grief rang out when bodies emerged.
Two other children died when a church bell tower fell on their home, said UK Mirror.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s cabinet was meeting on Thursday to decide emergency measures to help the affected communities.
All of the residents in Amatrice and Accumoli were evacuated by late Wednesday.
Firefighters look for survivors amid the debris in Amatrice tonight.
An immigrant father of three died in the natural disaster in Amatrice, while seven other members of Albania’s large expatriate community in Italy were injured when homes collapsed.
The worst damage was suffered by Pescara del Tronto, a hamlet near Arquata, which “just completely disintegrated” according to mayor Aleandro Petrucci. Nearly 200 people died in the towns of Amatrice, which was largely destroyed by the 6.0 magnitude quake, and Accumoli, about 100 miles northeast of Rome.
Mr Amato said that the power of the quake was down to its relative shallowness.
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Since it’s located atop two fault lines, Italy is accustomed to massive earthquakes and has invested in quakeproof infrastructure to compensate.
