Two workers died in the collapse during renovation work on the Paolini building in San Pio di Fontecchio, in the province of L'Aquila: the structure was being shored up following damage sustained in the 2009 earthquake . A third worker was seriously injured and was rescued by firefighters and taken to hospital by 118 personnel.
According to reports, six workers were present at the construction site, three of whom escaped the collapse and watched the rescue operations in shock . The mayor of Fontecchio, Andrea Di Biase, was also on site.
Initial investigations into the causes of the collapse reveal details that even the technicians are struggling to explain. The workers were not inside the building, which had been uninhabitable and shored up since 2009 due to earthquake damage, but outside, where they were preparing to open the construction site in preparation for the start of the renovation .
Among the ongoing operations was the assembly of the scaffolding, which was not anchored to the structure. Furthermore, the building had an irregular shape, with different floor levels depending on the portion of the building: three in some, two in others.
Three of the six workers, employed by the subcontractor assigned to the work by the company awarded the contract, were hit by debris caused by the sudden implosion of the building . Two of them died, while the third was pulled out alive but in serious condition. The other three workers were unharmed.
(Unioneonline)