Last child saved after Italy quake

Rescuers dug through the night to rescue 3 brothers

Rescuers on the Italian holiday island of Ischia pulled the last trapped child from rubble Tuesday after a magnitude- 4.0 earthquake toppled buildings and left two people dead.

Firefighters dug with their bare hands to reach 11- year- old Ciro, the last of three brothers buried in debris when the quake struck.

“There was silence for a while, they were tired. Then they began speaking again and we drew comfort from that,” said Luca Cari, a firefighter spokesperson.

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.

Firefighters broke into applause as a dusty Mattias, seven, was pulled free from under the bed where he had taken refuge. His 11- year- old brother Ciro was the last to emerge, rescued after 16 hours in the dark and loaded into a waiting ambulance.

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’ 7- month- old brother, Pasquale, crying but alive, after hours of effort overnight. Their pregnant mother had sounded the alarm.

Two small communes, Casamicciola and neighboring Lacco Ameno, bore the brunt of the quake, according to the civil protection agency.

The quake hit the northwest of the island at 8: 57 pm on Monday, at a depth of just five kilometers.

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.

Thirty- nine people were injured, one seriously.

“Italy is united with Ischia in sorrow for, and solidarity with, the victims. We stand sideby- side with those taking part in the rescues,” Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter.