The death toll from Wednesday’s devastating earthquake in Italy has reached 247.
According to Italy’s national news agency ANSA, rescue teams are struggling to reach victims in remote towns such as Amatrice, the town at the centre of the earthquake, which the mayor has said ‘is no more’.
Dozen of people, many children, are also reportedly trapped in the towns of Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto after the 6.2-magnitude quake struck just 65 miles from Rome at 3.30am.
Another aftershock measuring 4.7 struck central Italy early this morning near Norcia, hampering the efforts of thousands of rescue workers who are sifting through the rubble with their bare hands in an effort to save those underneath.
The BBC reports that one of the youngest victims is 18-month-old Marisol Piermarini. Marisol’s mother, Martina Turco, is a survivor of the 2009 L’Aquila tremor killed more than 300 people and is said to have moved to Arquata del Tronto after the tragedy, believing it to be a safer place for her daughter.
Meanwhile an Irish family were forced to flee there home in the town of Amelia, just 80 miles from the epicentre. Michael Burns (41), who owns a bar in the area, said his family, including nine-year-old son Wayne and six-year-old Killian, left their home when the earthquake hit.
“They had to get out of the house because it was shaking so bad. Most of the neighbours did the same,” Mr Burns told The Herald.
“They waited outside for 45 minutes wrapped in blankets before they felt it was safe to go back in again.”
Main image: Twitter/@francescoameli.
