Eight Feared Trapped After Building Collapses In Naples

Up to eight people are feared to be trapped underneath rubble after a block of flats collapsed in Naples, Italy at around 6am.

News agency ANSA quoted witnesses as saying that there was no explosion before the collapse, but that a train had just passed by the five-storey block on some nearby train tracks.

The incident occurred in the coastal town of Torre Annunziata, around four kilometers (three miles) from the Pompeii archaeological site, and firefighters attending the scene are concerned that there may be people trapped inside the wreckage.

Credit: PA

Rescue workers are currently shifting rubble by hand and passing it out of the building's remains in buckets, while firefighters check the stability of the damaged structure using long, retractable ladders.

Images from the scene show a partially collapsed structure, with some of the interiors of apartments within left exposed.

The nearby railway line, connecting Naples with tourist sites such as Pompeii and the Amalfi coast, has now been closed.

Credit: PA

Two families are thought to be among the missing people currently being searched for. The identities of those missing remains unclear.

Reconstruction work was reportedly being carried out on the building before the collapse and sniffer dogs have been brought in the help with the search.

No casualties have yet been reported.

Credit: PA

Earlier in the week, a dock in the south east of the city was lit up as a large yacht caught fire and sank to the bottom of the bay at Port of the Islands, about 20 miles south-east of Naples.

The 40ft powerboat, docked near a house, was 'fully engulfed' when three engines and a battalion chief from the Greater Naples Fire Rescue District arrived at around 5.30am, Assistant Chief Nolan Sapp said.

Luckily nobody was injured in the fire. The boat's owner said that his son lived on the vessel but had already left for work before the blaze broke out.

"[The] boat had been in the family for 35 years," Sapp said.

The cause of the inferno is still undetermined.

Source: Evening Standard, Naples Daily News

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Italy

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.