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Eight people feared missing after building collapse near Naples
Rescuers in southern Italy are trying to find eight people missing after an apartment block collapsed in Naples
The first two floors were being renovated and were empty at the time
Firefighters were on Friday morning searching through rubble for eight people feared missing after a five-storey block of collapsed near Naples in Italy.
Firefighters said up to eight people belonging to two families may be buried in the rubble in the seaside town of Torre Annunziata, some four kilometers from the Pompeii archaeological site. Two children are believed to be among the missing.
The cause remains unclear. ANSA news agency quoted witnesses as saying that there was no explosion before the collapse sometime after 6am, but that a train had just passed by on adjacent train tracks.
Images show the structure partially collapsed, revealing the interior of some apartments.
The collapse happened in a district near Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius
Some 30 rescue workers were removing rubble by hand, passing it out in buckets, as firefighters on long, retractable ladders checked the stability of the section that remained intact.
At one point, the digging was paused while a sniffer dog checked the scene.
News reports indicated that reconstruction work was being carried out on the building before the collapse.
The train line that passes Mount Vesuvius and connects Naples with such tourist sites as Pompeii and the Amalfi coast has been closed due to masonry falling on the tracks.
