ROME
\nRescuers on Monday found four more bodies in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Sicily after a massive explosion probably caused by a gas leak, raising the official death toll to seven, officials said.
\n\u201cThe search continues unabated\u201d for two more people missing after four residential buildings toppled to the ground late Saturday in the southern town of Ravanusa, the island\u2019s civil protection unit said on Facebook.
\nThe latest victims were found at dawn.
\nA photograph posted on the region\u2019s firefighting service twitter account showed firefighters standing on the rubble, as \u201ca fresh day of searching painfully begins.\u201d
\nTwo women were recovered alive from the debris early on Sunday after being found by sniffer dogs, but rescuers have not heard further signs of life.
\nThe blast leveled four structures, including a four-story apartment building, in the central residential district of the town of nearly 11,000 inhabitants, according to the civil protection unit.
\nImages from the scene showed a mass of concrete rubble, wooden beams and mangled steel in a large empty space, with neighboring buildings charred and damaged.
\nAn investigation has been opened into the cause of the explosion, which authorities said was most probably a gas leak.
\nNatural gas distributor Italgas said in a statement it had received no reports of gas leaks in the week leading up to the incident.
\nNo construction work was under way in the section of pipeline affected in the blast and the town\u2019s distribution network was fully inspected in both 2020 and 2021, it said.
\nLocal resident Calogero Bonanno said \u201cneighbors had told me there was a smell of gas.\u201d
\n\u201cI heard a tremendous roar, as if a bomb had gone off or a plane had crashed into the house,\u201d he was cited as saying by Italian media.
\n\u201cThen the window frames exploded. We immediately went down to the street, there was fire everywhere, rubble all around,\u201d he said after fleeing along with his wife, three children and in-laws. \u201cIt\u2019s a miracle we\u2019re alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ROME Rescuers on Monday found four more bodies in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Sicily after a massive explosion probably caused by a gas leak, raising the official death toll to seven, officials said. \u201cThe search continues unabated\u201d for two more people missing after four residential buildings toppled to the ground late Saturday in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-232734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n