ROME (Reuters) – Italian emergency services were battling on Monday to rescue a Romanian worker trapped for hours under rubble following the partial collapse of a medieval tower in central Rome, near the Colosseum.
“We are trying to get him out alive but the situation is complex because of the risk of further collapses,” national fire department spokesman Luca Cari told Reuters.
Parts of the 29-metre (95 ft) Torre dei Conti crashed to the ground on at least two occasions, videos posted on social media and Reuters footage showed. The first took place at around 1030 GMT, the second about 90 minutes later.
Clouds of dust came billowing out of the windows, along with the sound of collapsing masonry. The second incident took place while firefighters were working on the structure with aerial ladders.
None of the firefighters were injured.
LONG AND DIFFICULT RESCUE
The trapped worker survived the second collapse, but operations to get him out “will be very long and difficult because of the very high risk of (more) collapses,” Rome police chief Lamberto Giannini told reporters.
“The situation remains critical. We have colleagues present to provide consular assistance and communicate with the Italian authorities. The work of the firefighters is vital at this moment,” Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silva Toiu said on X.
A second worker, also Romanian, was pulled out almost immediately and hospitalised with serious but not life-threatening head injuries, while two more workers suffered minor injuries and declined hospital treatment.
TOWER BUILT BY 13TH CENTURY POPE
The tower, which was due to be converted into a museum and conference space, is located halfway along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, the broad avenue that leads from central Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum.
The building was still standing, but showing significant internal damage.
It once hosted city hall offices but has not been in use since 2006 and was being worked on as part of a four-year renovation project due to end next year, according to Rome city authorities.
Due to the EU-funded restoration work, the area around the tower was closed off to pedestrians.
The building was erected by Pope Innocent III for his family in the early 13th century, and was originally twice as high, but was scaled down after damage from earthquakes in the 14th and 17th centuries.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante, additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw, writing by Alvise Armellini, editing by Keith Weir and Gavin Jones)
