An explosion in a four-story apartment building in Sicily caused four deaths and five missing.
On Saturday night, two women were rescued from the rubble in the southern town of Rabanusa. Rescuers and sniffer dogs were looking for others who were still missing.
The local unit of the Italian Civil Defence Agency said on its Twitter that the death toll was four.
TV images showed that the place where the apartment building was once was piled up with rubble and wooden beams, and the neighboring buildings were scorched and damaged.
The authorities stated that the possible cause of the explosion was a gas leak and an investigation has been launched.
Giuseppe Merendino, a firefighter from the province of Agrigento, told Rainews24 TV channel: “The gas may have found a cavity where it can accumulate.” “Then, this piece of gasoline will be accidental. Trigger-cars, elevators, electrical appliances.”
Soon after the explosion, the mayor of Lavanusa, Carmelo De Angelo, called on Facebook to “all people with shovel and bulldozer”. He said: “A disaster has occurred.”
He said that about 50 people were displaced from neighboring buildings damaged in the explosion.
