Death toll rises to seven in Sicily gas leak blast

13 December 2021, 13:14

Firefighters and rescuers search for survivors following the explosion
Italy Collapsed Building. Picture: PA

Four buildings collapsed in the explosion in Ravanusa on Saturday evening.

Rescue workers in Sicily have recovered four more bodies from the rubble of buildings that collapsed following a gas leak explosion, bringing the number of confirmed dead to seven, firefighters said.

Firefighters and civil protection agency volunteers used their bare hands to search for two more people believed to be buried inside the pile of collapsed concrete and metal, more than a day-and-a-half after the blast that authorities traced to a gas line.

Rescue workers amid the rubble
The explosion in Ravanusa was felt miles away (Italian Firefighters Vigili del Fuoco via AP)

Two elderly women were rescued in the hours after the blast that hit the Sicilian town of Ravanusa on Saturday evening.

Three bodies were recovered on Sunday.

Meanwhile, workers recovered the bodies of a heavily pregnant woman, her husband and his parents, who the young couple had been visiting.

Four buildings collapsed in the explosion that was felt miles away.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Russia struck Kyiv with a drone during Sir Keir Starmer's visit

Putin’s forces launch drone attack on Kyiv during Sir Keir Starmer’s visit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu: No Cabinet meeting until Hamas backs down on ‘last-minute crisis’

BP sign outside a petrol station.

BP to cut 4,700 jobs in fresh wave of cost-cutting measures

Signage at TSMC headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posts 57% surge in profits thanks to AI boom

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifting off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin launches new rocket on first test flight

Man's hands on a laptop keyboard

Biden executive order aims to shore up US cyber defences

South Korea Martial Law

Lawyers say detained South Korean president will refuse further questioning

Saif Ali Khan

Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan stabbed multiple times in attempted robbery

Billy Ray Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus and Kid Rock to perform during Trump’s inauguration weekend

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan

Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan stabbed by intruder at his Mumbai home

A miner is transported on a stretcher by rescue workers

Death toll rises to 87 as stand-off between South African police and miners ends

A woman casts her ballot during Vanuatu’s snap election

Vanuatu holds snap election a month after powerful earthquake

Biden

Joe Biden warns of dangers of ‘oligarchy’ of ultra-rich running United States

Starmer is said to have discussed sending a peacekeeping force to Ukraine with Macron

UK in talks to 'put boots on the ground in Ukraine' as Starmer 'discusses peacekeeping force with Macron'

Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani first witness at trial over whether he keeps Florida home

Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Hamas is backtracking on a key part of the ceasefire deal

Netanyahu accuses Hamas of reneging on Gaza ceasefire deal and causing ‘last-minute crisis’