Europe

Home page

Europe

Elderly woman killed in building collapse in Italy

07 February 2014 22:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. An elderly woman died on Friday when a residential building collapsed due to a gas explosion in Italy's largest island Sicily, APA reports quoting Xinhua

The blast occurred in Caccamo, a seaside town not far from the capital of the island, Palermo, in the early morning.

Local media said the blast was triggered by a gas leak that eviscerated the two-floor building where 82-year-old Benedetta Sunseri had her apartment.

The explosion also blew out windows in nearby buildings. Rescue teams which rushed to the spot found the body of the woman in the debris.

"I was washing clothes as I often do in the morning, when I realized there was a strange smell in the air," a neighbor of the victim, whose house was also damaged by the explosion, said.

"I heard a rubble and I had a handful of soil and sand, then a few pebbles in the face. After a moment of confusion, I tried to understand and I saw the debris," she said.