Boy of 14 among three Britons killed in quake
Death toll in Italy hits 250 as rescuers search debris
AT LEAST three Britons – including a 14-year-old boy – were killed in the Italian earthquake, it was claimed last night.
The news came hours after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had warned that British nationals had ‘been affected’ by the disaster – but refused to give out any more details.
One report said the unnamed teenager had been on holiday in devastated Amatrice with his parents and sister. His parents are said to have been seriously injured and taken to nearby hospitals, but his sister is understood to have escaped unharmed.
A spokesman for Rieti hospital told the Mirror: ‘The British woman was brought here by rescue workers on Wednesday while her husband was taken to L’Aquila.
‘When we discovered he was there we decided they would be happier together, so we decided to reunite them. Since the man was less badly hurt it was easier to bring him to her. We hope that they can be a support to each other.’
Earlier, Mr Johnson said: ‘As the scale of the disaster has become clearer we now know that a number of British nationals have been affected. British Embassy staff are in the region providing consular support, and we have deployed additional staff to support this effort.’
But the Foreign Office refused to offer any more information about the situation, despite the area being popular with UK holidaymakers. As the death toll from Wednesday’s devastating earthquake reached 250 – with dozens of people still missing – a woman told of how her eight-year-old granddaughter sacrificed her life to save her younger sister.
Giulia Rinaldi died, but her fouryear-old sister Giorgia was found alive in the debris – 15 hours after the tremor struck.
Giulia’s death is just one of the tragic tales emerging from Amatrice, Accumoli, Pescara del Tronto and surrounding villages which were ravaged by a 6.2-magnitude quake in the early hours of the morning. The girls’ grandmother Angela Cafini said Giorgia had remarkably survived unharmed, and asked rescuers for a drink within seconds of the concrete being pulled off her. The sisters were found by a sniffer
‘One was alive, the other was dead’
dog in the rubble of their home in Pescara del Tronto. The village, with a population of 100, has been virtually wiped from the map.
Mrs Cafini, 64, said: ‘They were together. One was alive and the other was dead. Giulia had used her body to protect her little sister because she was not harmed at all. She has no injuries. It is a miracle that she is alive, but I am torn. I have lost one granddaughter and one has lived.’
The two girls and their parents, Michaela and Fabio, who live in Rome, were holidaying in the village. Mr and Mrs Rinaldi suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital. Mrs Cafini, who was in another house, escaped unhurt. Fire chief Angelo Moroni said a labrador called Leo found the girls, barking and leading the rescuers to a spot where they started digging with their hands.
He added: ‘In those terrible moments you’re not really thinking, you just move on like a robot for hours and hours without feeling either fatigue or thirst. All you want is to save people. We dug for 12 hours – I really hope Giorgia will forget all this one day.’
Silvano Pala, 70, a retired builder, said he had survived only because he had rebuilt his house in the spring with stronger materials. Mr Pala added: ‘I saw a couple of young children on the ground. Two already dead, one died later in hospital. They were under the concrete.’