Employee dies after partial collapse of medieval tower in Rome

A employee who was trapped after a part of a medieval tower collapsed within the coronary heart of Rome, has died, in keeping with hospital officers.

Octay Stroici was pulled free at 23:00 native time (22:00 GMT), almost twelve hours after a bit of the Torre dei Conti, on the sting of the well-known Roman Discussion board and near the Colosseum, gave approach and trapped him beneath.

His coronary heart stopped within the ambulance, and medical doctors on the hospital he was rushed to had been unable to save lots of him.

The Romanian international ministry mentioned Stroici was a Romanian nationwide, as was one other employee amongst three others pulled from the rubble. One is alleged to be in a important situation.

Stroici’s rescue was initially described as an distinctive feat by firefighters who had labored late into the night time. Rescue groups used drones and rubble clearers to attempt to attain him, regardless of the chance that the delicate tower may collapse additional.

He had been aware and speaking to the emergency employees all through the rescue. His spouse was additionally on the scene.

Stroici had been finishing up conservation work on the medieval tower which is a part of the Roman Discussion board, one in every of this metropolis’s busiest vacationer websites. However this explicit constructing had been empty and deserted for a few years.

The Rome Prosecutor’s Workplace has opened an investigation into the incident.

Efforts to rescue Stroici – reported to be in his 60s – had been interrupted when a second part of the 29m (90ft) excessive tower started crumbling once more, with bricks raining down, creating an enormous cloud of mud.

Earlier, Rome prefect Lamberto Giannini had described it as a “very complicated state of affairs”. Giannini mentioned that after the preliminary collapse firefighters had “put up some safety” across the trapped man, so when the second collapse occurred, “they clearly shielded him”.

He added that the rescue was a protracted operation because of having to “mitigate…the large dangers confronted by the individuals making an attempt to hold out the rescue”.

One firefighter was taken to hospital with a watch drawback, in keeping with native media, however the remainder had been unhurt, ultimately resuming their seek for the person.

A police chief mentioned there was no imminent hazard that the tower will disintegrate.

“My ideas and deepest sympathies exit to the individual at present combating for his life beneath the rubble, and to his household, for whom I sincerely hope that this tragedy finds a optimistic final result,” wrote Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on X earlier than the rescue was full.

One other employee, 67-year-old Ottaviano, who was inside on the time of the collapse however escaped from a balcony unhurt, advised the AFP information company: “It was not protected. I simply wish to go dwelling.”

Rome’s mayor and Italy’s tradition minister visited the scene.

The thirteenth Century tower is a part of the Roman Discussion board, a serious vacationer attraction within the centre of Rome, however it’s separated from the primary guests’ space by a street. The streets throughout have been taped off by police as a precaution.

The medieval tower was constructed by Pope Harmless III as a residence for his brother.