Building collapses in the center of Bari: elderly woman missing, digging through rubble

A five-story building collapsed in the Carrassi neighborhood of Bari. Firefighters arrived on site and are digging through the rubble . The toll is one missing woman, an elderly woman, whose cell phone was heard ringing under the concrete blocks .

According to initial investigations, the building imploded due to the collapse of a central pillar. It had been declared unfit for use, evacuated and shored up in February of last year precisely because static problems had been detected with a central pillar. The property had begun consolidation work.

The missing elderly woman, according to what has been reconstructed, despite the orders to abandon her home, would never have done so. The firefighters are at work with a Usar team, a team that is activated in rescue operations in rubble, resulting from seismic events, explosions, collapses or static and hydrogeological instability.

(Unioneonline/vf)