The death toll from an earthquake that jolted south-central Italy increased to 20 early on Friday, including 18 children, who were crushed when a nursery school collapsed Thursday in a village, local firefighters said.
Rescue workers dug with their hands throughout the night to find more survivors in the rubble of the school in the village of San Giuliano di Puglia. More than 30 people have been pulled from the debris alive. About 15 are still believed to be trapped inside.
The quake, the strongest to hit Italy since 1997, rocked the south-central region of Molise on Thursday morning, shaking down the nursery school and leaving at least 3,000 people temporarily homeless.
(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2002)
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