Building collapses in Italy and leaves six people under the rubble; look

Work progressed throughout the night with the participation of specialized teams and dogs trained to locate victims under the rubble. According to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, authorities believe that only the six people already identified are buried.

Michele Burgio, responsible for the operation, stated that the reports gathered so far do not indicate the presence of other victims at the scene. The cell phones of the missing are also being used to try to define search points more precisely.

Clelia Magazzù, daughter of two of the missing, asked on social media that family members and acquaintances not call their parents' devices, in order to preserve the devices' batteries.

"I'm Rosa Leone's daughter. My mother and father are still missing. Please don't call them, so that their cell phones don't run out of battery. We need them for the search," she wrote.

Two of Clelia's uncles, her mother's brothers, are also among those wanted.

The building had commercial establishments on the ground and first floor, while the second floor was occupied by residences. Three supermarket employees, aged 26, 54 and 58, were injured and taken to hospital. None of them are at risk of dying.

The first information pointed to the explosion of a gas reservoir as a possible cause of the collapse. The hypothesis, however, lost strength after initial analyses. The Messina Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation, and authorities are working on the possibility of a structural failure.

“The explosion was not the cause of the collapse,” said the mayor of Messina, Federico Basile.

A woman who was in one of the stores managed to escape without injury. She said she had just walked away when she heard a loud bang.

"I had just left when I heard a huge noise and everything collapsed. There was chaos everywhere", he reported.

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