2 children rescued from rubble in quake-hit Italian island

At least one person, an elderly woman who was inside a church that collapsed, was killed in the quake that struck just before 9 pm on Monday. 

Another 39 were injured and some 2,600 were left homeless. Video released from the firefighting service showed rescuers passing the baby, who was wearing a white onesie and appearing alert, out of the collapsed structure in hardest-hit Casamicciola at around 4 am. 

The news agency ANSA said cries of joy went up in the crowd and the boys’ mother ran to take him. One of the baby’s brothers was rescued some seven hours later, and quickly loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. 

A firefighter photo showed the boy, identified as Mattias, being pulled out of the rubble in just his underwear covered with cement dust. Firefighters said on Twitter that they had reached the other boy, named Ciro, and were working on extracting him. 

The children’s father told that boys were in a bedroom, while he and his wife were elsewhere in the house. The mother, who is heavily pregnant, managed to escape through a window while rescuers helped the father.