This is the dramatic moment a ten-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble after spending 17 hours trapped upside down in debris from the Italian earthquake.
The child was hauled to safety by rescuers who shouted 'she's alive' as they carried her from the ruins of a building in the devastated central Italian town of Pescara del Tronto.
Footage shows just the dust-covered legs of the youngster as emergency crews tried desperately to free her from the rubble.
One rescuer could be heard saying: 'You can hear something under here. Quiet, quiet.'
He then urged the child to wriggle free, saying: 'Come on, Giulia, come on, Giulia. ... Watch your head.' Cheers broke out when she was pulled out.
It was a brief moment of joy on a day in which at least 247 people were killed in the region following a 6.2-magnitude quake at 3.30am yesterday.
Rescue: Footage captured the dramatic moment a ten-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble after spending 17 hours trapped upside down in debris from the Italian earthquake
Video shows just the dust-covered legs of the youngster as emergency crews tried desperately to free her from the rubble
It was a brief moment of joy on a day in which at least 247 people were killed in the region following a 6.2-magnitude quake in the early hours of the morning
The child was pulled from under a metal girder before a fire fighter carried her down for medical treatment
The child was hauled to safety by rescuers who shouted 'she's alive' as they carried her from the ruins of a building in the devastated central Italian town of Pescara del Tronto
The ten-year-old girl had spent about 17 hours wedged in a collapsed building in what was once a picturesque hamlet
She had spent about 17 hours wedged in a collapsed building in what was once a picturesque hamlet. Incredibly, she did not appear to have suffered serious injuries.
Danilo Dionisi, a firefighter from Ascoli Piceno said after the child's rescue: 'The ten year old girl was just pulled out now from the rubble and she is being taken to the hospital and that is good news. As far as the rest is concerned, the images speak for themselves, you can see what the town looks like.'
The frantic search for survivors of the Italian earthquake was continuing tonight as witnesses likened the hellish scenes to 'Dante's inferno' - and shocking pictures showed how four towns were almost wiped off the map.
But as rescue efforts continue today, the chance of finding people alive more than 24 hours later will be dramatically reduced.
'Unfortunately, 90 per cent we pull out are dead, but some make it, that's why we are here,' said Christian Bianchetti, a volunteer from Rieti who was working in devastated Amatrice, where flood lights were set up so the rescue could continue through the night.
Rescue crews are now facing a race against time to dig out survivors from an earthquake that reduced three central Italian towns to rubble.
Premier Matteo Renzi visited Pescara del Tronto, where the ten-year-old was saved, greeting rescue teams and survivors and pledging that 'no family, no city, no hamlet will be left behind'.
Rescuers rest in a large building that has been converted into a base for operations in Amatrice, Italy, before efforts recommence this morning to find the hundreds of missing
Thousands of people have been displaced by the earthquake, which reduced houses to rubble and almost wiped entire towns off the map
Rescuers in Armatrice were left exhausted last night after digging through the rubble with industrial equipment and sometimes even their bare hands
Rescuers continued to work through the rubble into the night, using diggers to clear the debris from the huge earthquake
At least 247 people have been killed, including two babies, and 100 people are believed to be trapped under rubble after the 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3.30am local time this morning while villagers slept in their beds
Hundreds of people were due to spend a chilly night wrapped in blankets or in hastily-assembled tents with the risk of aftershocks making it too risky for them to return home
Rescuers search through debris following an earthquake in Pescara Del Tronto. The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3.36am
It was among the worst affected regions, as well as Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 60 miles north east of Rome. Italy's civil protection agency set up tent cities around each hamlet to accommodate the thousands of homeless.
Italy's health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, visiting the devastated area, said many of the victims were children. The quake zone is a popular spot for Romans with second homes and the population swells in August when most Italians take their summer holiday before school resumes.
Last night, it emerged that five bodies had been pulled from a hotel in Amatrice where 70 people had been staying. Officials said rescuers had been forced to suspend their search at the site because it was too dark and dangerous to continue. One of the people killed in the rubble of the hotel was an 11-year-old boy who had initially shown signs of life.
Rescuers spoke of hearing children's screams from the rubble and locals were spotted frantically digging with their bare hands to try and save loved ones.
One man, Guido Bordo, 69, lost his sister and her husband after they were trapped inside their holiday house in the hamlet of Illica, north of hard-hit Amatrice. Before their deaths were confirmed, he had described how he could only hear the sound of cats as he scrambled to find his loved-ones beneath the rubble.
The first victim to be named by local media reports was Marisol Piermarini - an 18-month-old baby who was sleeping in her crib when the house she was staying in Arquata del Tronto collapsed. Mother Martina and father Massimiliano have been taken to hospital with 'many wounds' after being pulled from the rubble.
Tragically, the family had moved to the area from L'Aquila after their home there was destroyed in another earthquake in 2009.
A man is rescued and stretchers away after the quake devastated the mountainside towns and villages of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto
Recovered bodies lay covered on the ground in a child's play area in the town of Pescara del Tronto
The rescue mission was continuing in Pescara Del Tronto, one of the areas devastated by the Italian earthquake
Covered: In what looks like an image from Pompeii, the town of Amatrice is seen smothered in grey dust and rubble in this aerial photo
Dante's Inferno: Agostino Severo, a Rome resident on holiday, described Amatrice as looking like 'Dante's Inferno'. 'People crying for help, help. Rescue workers arrived after one hour... one and a half hours,' he said
The 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3.30am local time this morning while villagers slept in their beds. Rescuers are pictured walking through the rubble in Amatrice
Catastrophic: Only a few buildings appeared to still be in tact amidst the absolute devastation in the town of Amatrice
Collapse: The Mayor of Amatrice described how 'the roads in and out of town are cut off. Half the town is gone - there are many dead'
Still standing: This red brick building is one of the only remaining structures in the historical part of the town of Amatrice
Strong tremors were felt in the capital Rome, more than 100 miles from the epicenter near the city of Perugia - the epicentre was between Norcia and Accumoli
The little girl's grandfather, Massimo Piermarini, said he desperately tried to save his family: 'They did not want me to go in because it was all in danger, but I said that I did not care at all, I had to go looking for them, but unfortunately for the girl there was nothing to do.'
The quake, which devastated the mountainside towns and villages of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto, was so powerful that it even rocked buildings in the centre of Rome more than 100 miles away and was felt as far away as Croatia.
Survivors described 'apocalyptic' scenes in towns and villages at the border of three regions - Umbria, Lazio and Marche - near the city of Perugia, which is especially popular with British holidaymakers.
Some of the worst damage was suffered in Pescara del Tronto, a hamlet near Arquata in the Marche region where the bodies of the dead were laid out in a children's play park.
Hundreds of people were to spend a chilly night in hastily-assembled tents with the risk of aftershocks making it too risky for them to return home.
No comments:
Post a Comment