Apartment building collapses in Italy; some may be trapped

Rescuers work amid the rubble of a building that collapsed, left, in Torre Annunziata, near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, July 7, 2017. A five-story apartment block collapsed early Friday near the southern Italian city of Naples, and authorities were digging by hand to find anyone who may have been trapped. AP

MILAN — A five-story apartment block collapsed early Friday near the southern Italian city of Naples, and authorities were digging by hand to find anyone who may have been trapped.

Firefighters told Sky TG24 that six or seven people are believed to be buried in the rubble in the seaside town of Torre Annunziata, some four kilometers (three miles) from the Pompeii archaeological site.

The news agency ANSA quoted witnesses as saying that there was no explosion before the collapse Friday morning but that a train had just passed by on adjacent train tracks.

Images show the structure partially collapsed, revealing the interior of some apartments. Rescue workers were removing rubble by hand, passing it out in buckets, as firefighters on long, retractable ladders checked the stability on the section that remained intact.

News reports indicated that reconstruction work was being carried out on the building./rga