ROME, Reuters, August 21, 2017 – An earthquake hit the tourist-packed Italian holiday island of Ischia on Monday night, collapsing buildings, killing at least two people and injuring dozens, officials said.
Residents and tourists on the island off the coast of Naples ran out onto the narrow streets from homes and hotels. Fearing aftershocks, many decided to leave the island early.
A doctor carries a child after an earthquake hits the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples.
Television images showed about six buildings in the town of Casamicciola including a church had collapsed in the quake, which hit at 8:57 p.m. (1857 GMT).
The quake hit a few days before the first anniversary of a major quake that killed nearly 300 people in central Italy, most of them in the town of Amatrice.
Earthquake victims were rescued in the popular Italian tourist island of Ischia on Monday.
Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology put the magnitude of Monday’s quake at 4.0, revising it up from an initial 3.6, but both the U.S. Geological Survey and the European quake agency estimated the magnitude at 4.3.
The director of the island’s hospital said two people were killed and about 40 injured. One of the victims was killed when she was hit by falling masonry from the church of Santa Maria del Suffragio, the Civil Protection Department in Rome said.
A woman is helped out of debris and rubble after an earthquake hit the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples, Italy August 21, 2017, in this still image taken from video.
Most of the damage was in the high part of the volcanic island. Hotels and residences on the coast did not appear to suffer serious damage.
Helicopters and a ferry boat brought in more rescue workers from the mainland.
Three extra ferries were provided during the night for about 1,000 residents and tourists who wanted to leave. As daylight broke, dozens of people went to the island’s four ports, having decided to end their vacations early.
Police fear the death toll of two could rise further with six missing in the rubble of their homes after an earthquake hit the Italian resort island of Ischia at the peak of its tourist season.
A few people were pulled out alive from the rubble, including a seven-month-old baby. A few others, including two children, were located still alive and rescuers were working to free them, according to media.
Roberto Allocca, a doctor from a local hospital, told Sky TG24 television that about 25 people had been treated for minor injuries. Most of the hospital had been evacuated and the injured were treated outside.
Locals and tourists were forced to wait in the street after the earthquake hit the island just off the coast of Italy
Some civil protection squads were already on the island because of brush fires.
Ischia, a volcanic island about a one-hour ferry ride from Naples, is popular with German tourists. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stayed there often.
