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Updated at 8pm
ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD Ciro, the last child to be pulled from the rubble on the Italian island of Ischia today, saved his little brother’s life when the deadly earthquake struck, rescue workers said.
Firefighters had to dig with their bare hands to reach the youngster, who had been buried along with his seven-year old brother Mattias and seven-month old half-brother Pasquale.
“It was Ciro who saved Mattias,” said policeman Andrea Gentile. “He dragged him and pushed him under the bed with him, a gesture that without a doubt saved both their lives.
Then with a broom handle he banged on the rubble so the rescuers could hear him.
But as a dusty Mattias was pulled free from the rubble, firefighters broke into applause. Ciro, rescued after 16 hours in the dark, was loaded into a waiting ambulance.
“Don’t leave me, don’t let me die,” he had begged his saviours, Italy’s AGI news agency reported.
The boys’ father, whose hands were bandaged after spending the night digging through the rubble alongside the firefighters, could be seen tearfully hugging relatives as his eldest son was saved.
Emergency workers had previously recovered the boys’ seven-month-old brother, Pasquale, crying but alive, after hours of effort overnight. Their pregnant mother had sounded the alarm.
However, a woman was killed in Casamicciola, in the north of the small tourist island, by debris that fell from a church, while the body of another was spotted in the rubble of a collapsed house, local media reported.
Two small communes, Casamicciola and neighbouring Lacco Ameno, bore the brunt of the quake, according to the civil protection agency.
The quake hit the northwest of the island at 8.57pm (7.57pm Irish time) yesterday, at a depth of just 5km.
Italian authorities first put the quake at a 3.6 magnitude, but later revised it upward to 4.0 – in seismic terms, a modest event.
The main earthquake was followed by 14 smaller aftershocks. Several buildings collapsed while others had large, ominous cracks.
In total, 39 people were injured, one seriously.
“Italy is united with Ischia in sorrow for, and solidarity with, the victims. We stand side-by-side with those taking part in the rescues,” Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter.
‘A horrible experience’
Many holidaymakers packed their bags and rushed to catch special overnight ferries back to the mainland.
The quake struck just days ahead of the first anniversary of the 6.0 magnitude quake that killed nearly 300 people in and around Amatrice in central Italy. In October 2016 and January 2017 three other earthquakes hit the same region.
Francesco Peduto, head of Italy’s National Geologists Association, slammed shoddy construction and a lack of earthquake prevention measures, saying a 4.0-magnitude quake should not have brought down buildings.
“It’s frankly extraordinary that people continue to die in earthquakes of this size,” he said.
The quake response has benefited from the presence of emergency responders who were on the island to fight forest fires that have plagued Italy this summer, local media said.
“I was on the couch watching TV. Blackout, shaking, something fell on my head. I scream, my mother grabs me and we ran outside,” one witness wrote on Twitter.
Teams of firefighters, including two units specialised in extracting people from rubble, were quickly mobilised, said Bruno Frattasi, who oversees the fire department.
Ischia’s only hospital was also hit and had to be partially evacuated, with five patients transferred to another medical facility by helicopter.
Restaurants were packed and many stores were still open when the shaking began, witnesses said on Twitter.
“A horrible experience, everything was shaking, plunged into darkness, houses were collapsing… a nightmare,” one wrote.
Ischia is often hit by earthquakes, with its worst dating back to July 1883, when an estimated 5.8-magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people.
Italy straddles the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, making it vulnerable to seismic activity when they move.
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No better bunch of lads to do it!
Fair Fcuks To The Immigrant Paddies!!!
They Built (and still build) the World!!!
The hands that built the world.
get it right, the paddies are doing the grunt work. Meanwhile the paddies at home cant get it together to build a tiny 7km tunnel under Dublin
Jim Jameson. The men who built the Dublin tunnel are the same team that build tunnels all over the world. What they all tell you is that they do not have to deal with FF members of Govt. forcing contracts to go to friends companies, sub par workers getting jobs on site because they are related to Ministers or are cumann members.
That is the big difference here. If people are let do they get on with it, as seen all over the world, the barriers that people put have to deal with here are all political and all about pocketing money.
Well said Dylan.
I have personally worked on large international civil projects.
They finished many months under time, under budget and started bringing in income for the state 6-9 months ahead of schedule.
Take the same workers
and the same companies and use them on a project here in Ireland
And what you get is
extra months if not years in overruns, disputes, objections
project prices doubling
shoddy workmanship.
And basically an overexpensive, behind time over budget mess that is substandard and not fit for purpose.
The rot comes from the top in Ireland.
I think Jim’s referring to Dart Underground
So up to 370 sterling per day, over 2 grand in euro a week. Where’s my shovel…
for serious where do I sign up
Boring article Darragh…
It was a pun!!!!!!
One of which I got straight away :) lol
Just you and me giving me green thumbs so Shane!!
Digging a hole for yourself there!
Was a bit of a “grave” mistake ;)
I bet you wish the ground would just open up and swallow you.
That’s it lads…kick me in the hole…
Sorry, John, red thumb changed to green. Good one.
Lets make no bones about it, it was a fantastic pun.
That’s the pits Peter…your really dredging the depths now!
Fair play John, I wrote ‘boeing article’ on a plane story and got ALL the red thumbs! Oopsie
In fairness your pun was a good one…mine slightly obvious…except to 136 red thumbers!!
“Under Picaddilly’s Neon” And another generation thrown away because of greed gets to build the rest of the world. I wish you all the best lads, I genuinely do, and be glad that your tax money is not being thrown away to bond holders.
That’s great.
Was almost sold a move to the London construction scene there! Or would the journal offer me a proofreading gig??
Great article, good to see irish people doing a great job and getting a decent wage, well done!
Hares run free on the Wicklow mountains,
wild geese fly and the foxes play;
sporting Wicklow boys are working,
driving a tunnel through the London clay.
Up with the shields and jack it! Ram it!
Drive a tunnel through the London clay.
Lough Derg trout grow fat and lazy,
salmon sport in Cushla bay;
and fishermen from Connemara
drive a tunnel through the London clay.
Below Armagh the wild ducks breeding,
wild fowl gather on Loch Rea,
the sporting boys of Longford County
are digging a tunnel through the London clay.
The curragh rots on the Achill Island,
tourists walk on the Newport quay;
the Mayo boys have all gone roving,
digging a tunnel through the London clay.
The Carlow girls are fine and handsome,
all decked out so neat and gay;
the Carlow boys don’t come to court ‘em
they’re driving a tunnel through the London clay.
Down in the dark are the tunnel tigers
far from the sun and the light of day;
down in the land that the sea once buried,
driving a tunnel through the London clay.
Sean Keane does a version of that song that is tingling.
Heard it on “the south wind blows” a few weeks ago. Spine-tingling alright.
Hon the Lucky 7!!
It is good to see that our neighbours on the mainland will still take care of us when times are hard.
Getting highly skilled workers for free, never having had to pay a cent in child care and education etc.
The cost of emigration makes the housing bubble look cheap. 250k to get a child to 21 for shipping off to America or Australia and they are going at a 1000 a week.
Emigration has always cost this country its growth and potential just so the status quo could remain the same.
In mid eighties used to work on the road building in London , Luton bypass , pipe laying in Barton le clay with British gas with Murphy construction . Whatever u say about uk they will always be work there for people who want to work . Some guys worked there way upwards and now run many of the uk construction companies and they still respect the work ethos of the paddy . We built the channel tunnel and major railway line systems and hopefully we will continue to do so for many decades to come . If your willing and able get yourself down to cricklewood areas and put your cvs behind the bars and cafes there . U will pick up work just ensure you get the right tickets and documents
One of my accounts in the UK was. Huge construction company. I used to have to deal with all the site managers who were all Irish and I thinkpart of the reason I got that account because I was Irish too. ( Mind you i was brilliant at my job too ) lol They weren’t nice friendly Irish men though . They were very grumpy feckers altogether. They were under huge pressure so I think all the guys over there earn every penny . It’s not an easy ride by any means .
Sadly there is an old Irish mindset that unless your a grumpy angry bollox on the site that your not a good manager. Counter-productive as fup but that is what it is.
Great money!
Am looking to get on this project as an Engineer-anyone know how to contact John Small?
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