Italian officials raise earthquake death toll to 281 as aftershock damages crucial bridges
Reporting from Amatrice, Italy — Rescue workers acknowledged Friday they might not find any more survivors from Italy’s earthquake as they confronted a new obstacle to their recovery work: a powerful aftershock that damaged two key access bridges to hard-hit Amatrice, threatening to isolate it.
Mayor Sergio Pirozzi warned that if new roads weren’t quickly cleared to bypass the damaged ones, Amatrice risked being cut off when it needs as many transport options as possible to bring emergency crews in and some of the 281 dead out.
Civil protection officials gave the updated death toll late Friday, raising it from 278 after three more bodies were found in Amatrice, the town most badly affected by the violent temblor that hit central Italy this week.
Officials said 221 people were killed in Amatrice, 11 in Accumoli and 49 in Arquata del Tronto.
“With the aftershocks yesterday but especially this morning the situation has worsened considerably,” Pirozzi told reporters. “We have to make sure Amatrice does not become isolated, or risk further help being unable to get through.”
A major aftershock struck at 6:28 a.m., one of the more than 1,000 that have hit the area since Wednesday’s quake. The U.S. Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8.
It left one key access bridge to Amatrice unusable, and damaged another one. Crews began clearing trees to create an alternate bypass road to avoid the nearly 25-mile detour up and down mountain roads that they were forced to use Friday, slowing the rescue effort.
Even before the roads were shut down, traffic into and out of Amatrice was heavily congested with emergency vehicles and dump trucks carrying tons of concrete, rocks and metal down the single-lane roads.
Multiple ambulances were also bringing the dead to an airport hangar in the provincial capital of Rieti, where four big, white refrigerated trucks created a makeshift morgue to which relatives came in a steady stream Friday.
Premier Matteo Renzi declared a state of emergency and authorized 50 million euros ($56 million) for immediate quake relief. The Italian government also declared Saturday a day of national mourning and scheduled a state funeral to be attended by President Sergio Mattarella.
Rescue efforts continued, but by nightfall, two full days had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble.
“There is still hope to find survivors under the rubble, even in these hours,” Walter Milan, a rescue worker, said Friday. But he conceded: “Certainly, it will be very unlikely.”
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UPDATES:
3:35 p.m.: Updated with the most recent death toll and new information throughout.
This story was originally published at 11:16 a.m.
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