Italy Earthquake: Death toll reaches 278 while road damage could see town 'isolated'
Three Britons - a teenager and a married couple - are named among victims as hopes fade of finding survivors
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Your support makes all the difference.Strong aftershocks damaged two key access roads into earthquake-struck Amatrice on Friday, threatening to isolate the tiny hilltop town as hopes dimmed that firefighters would find any more survivors from the earthquake that killed at least 278 people.
Some crumbled buildings in Amatrice cracked even further after the biggest aftershock of Friday morning struck., one of more than 1,000 that have hit the area since Wednesday's quake. The US Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8.
The shaking ground also damaged a key access bridge to Amatrice, forcing emergency crews to close it. Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said he was working with authorities to find an alternative bypass also to another damaged bridge.
“We hope to God it works because otherwise with the damaged stretch of road, we are without any connection” to the main roads and "we have to make sure Amatrice does not become isolated, or risk further help being unable to get through,” he said.
Even before the roads were shut down, traffic into and out of Amatrice was horribly congested with emergency vehicles bringing hundreds of rescue crews up to Amatrice each day and dump trucks carrying tons of concrete, rocks and metal down the single-lane roads.
Multiple ambulances were also bringing the dead to an airport hangar in the provincial capital of Rieti, where four big white refrigerated trucks created a makeshift morgue to which relatives came in a steady stream Friday.
Three Britons were among those killed in the disaster. A 14-year-old boy on holiday with his parents and a married couple from south London.
A joint statement from their families issued by the Foreign Office on Friday said: “It is with sadness that we can confirm the deaths of Maria, 51, and Will, 55, Henniker-Gotley and Marcos Burnett, 14, in the earthquake in Amatrice, Italy on August 24.
“Their families have paid tribute to the tireless work of the Italian rescue workers and hospital staff and expressed their gratitude for the love and support they have received from the Italian people. Their thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the earthquake.”
It is believed Mr and Mrs Henniker-Gotley owned a property in Sommati, a village about 1.3 miles (2km) from Amatrice.Their two children, believed to be aged 12 and 14, survived but their condition is unknown.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, told the Press Association: “They were lovely. They were a lovely family. It's very hard to take in.
“They were very warm and friendly, extremely good neighbours. It's just so awful to think of their children.”
Marcos and his family were staying with the Henniker-Gotleys. His parents, Anne-Louise and Simon Burnett, were both taken to hospital and their daughter also survived. Her condition is unknown.
The civil protection department in Rome said on Friday that 388 people were being treated for injuries in hospitals, and 40 of them were in critical condition. An estimated 2,500 people were left homeless by the most deadly quake in Italy since 2009.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency and authorised €50 million (£43m) for immediate quake relief. The Italian government also declared Saturday a day of national mourning and scheduled a state funeral to be attended by President Sergio Mattarella.
The first funeral of a victim was held in Rome on Friday, for Marco Santarelli, the 28-year-old son of a senior state official, who died in the family's holiday home in Amatrice.
“I cannot find the words to describe the grief of a father who outlives his own children. Perhaps there are no words,” Marco's father, Filippo Santarelli, told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
A funeral service for six other victims, including an 8-year-old boy and two girls aged 14 and 15, was due to be held in their hometown of Pomezia, south of Rome, late on Friday.
Rescue efforts continued on Friday, but nearly two days had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble. While Mr Renzi hailed the fact that more than 215 people had been rescued after the quake, authorities reported a steadily rising death toll of at least least 278
Civil protection operations chief Immacolata Postiglione still insisted Friday that the rescue effort hadn't yet switched to a recovery mission. Rescue workers have noted that a person was pulled out alive 72 hours (three days) after the 2009 earthquake in the Italian town of L'Aquila.
“I confirm, once again as we have from the start, that the units that are doing the searches and rescues, including with dogs looking for other people trapped in the rubble, are absolutely fully active,” she said.
On the ground, crews still hoped to find all those unaccounted for, though the number is still uncertain given the large number of visitors for summer holidays and an annual food festival.
“There is still hope to find survivors under the rubble, even in these hours,” Walter Milan, a mountain rescue worker, said . But he conceded: “Certainly, it will be very unlikely.”
The vast majority of the dead were found in leveled Amatrice, the medieval hilltop town famous for its bacon and tomato pasta sauce. The other dead hailed from nearby Accumoli and Arcquarta del Tronto.
Hardly a single building was left unscathed in Amatrice, which was last year voted one of the most beautiful old towns in Italy.
“Amatrice will have to be razed to the ground,” said Mayor Pirozzi, who urged youngsters not to leave the area, saying that would mean the end of their community.
“No night can last so long that the sun never rises again. I am convinced that Amatrice will rise again. We owe it to the people who died here.”
Flags will fly at half-staff Saturday on all public offices and a state funeral will be celebrated by a bishop in a gym in Ascoli Piceno for the victims of nearby Arquata del Tronto. To date, 49 of the dead have come from the tiny town and its hamlet Pescara del Tronto.
Across the area, thousands have been forced to abandon their homes, either because they were destroyed or they were determined to be too unsafe. Overnight some 2,100 slept in tent camps, nearly 1,000 more than the first night after Wednesday's quake, in a sign that a significant number had found nowhere else to go.
“I have no idea what I'm going to do now, because I had renovated the house two years ago,” survivor Umberto Palaferri said, showing a photo of his collapsed home on his phone. “It was all new and now I don't know what to do. I'm 76 and don't know if I can rebuild it.”
Associated Press and Reuters
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