The death toll from a powerful earthquake in central Italy rose to 247 on August 25, 2016 amid fears many more corpses would be found in the rubble of devastated mountain villages. Rescuers sifted through collapsed masonry in the search for survivors, but their grim mission was clouded by uncertainty about exactly how many people had been staying in communities closest to the epicenter of the quake of August 24./ AFP PHOTO /
ROME, Italy (AFP) — The death toll from a powerful earthquake in central Italy rose to 267 Friday with 367 people hospitalized with injuries, the Civil Protection agency said.
Immacolata Postiglione, head of the agency’s emergency unit, indicated there had been no survivors found overnight as rescuers sifted through rubble for a third day.
The government has declared a state of emergency for the regions affected by Wednesday’s quake with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi releasing an initial tranche of 50 million euros ($56 million) for emergency aid.
Renzi also announced a new earthquake prevention plan as questions mounted over why so many people had died just seven years after the nearby city of L’Aquila was devastated by a quake that killed 300 people.
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