An elderly woman was successfully rescued from a collapsed building after being trapped under the rubble for 24 hours.
The building, a five-story apartment complex located in the southern Italian city of Bari, collapsed on Wednesday, March 5 — trapping a woman, 74, beneath the debris, Wanted in Rome — an English magazine for expats in Italy — reports, citing Italian outlet ANSA. Following a 24-hour mission to retrieve her, firefighters managed to pull the woman from the rubble. Her identity was not made public.
“She was found inside the building, in the area of the stairs, where we imagined she was,” Bari firefighter commander Rosa D’Eliseo said. “She was taking the stairs to get out. She evidently sensed the danger and was running away.”
The rescue was met with applause from bystanders and the woman was transported to a nearby hospital.
The local fire and rescue agency, Vigili dl Fuoco, expressed gratitude for first responders’ efforts, writing on X: “Extreme appreciation for the self-denial, perseverance, commitment and courage with which you have carried out the rescue operations with extraordinary success.” The message was written in Italian and translated to English.
The apartment building was declared structurally unsafe last year, according to Wanted in Rome. Its 80 residents were evacuated shortly thereafter. However, the rescued woman reportedly remained in her residence. Renovations on the building had begun just one week before the collapse, the outlet reported.
Constructed in the 1950s with additions from the 1970s, the building was determined to have a structurally unsound central pillar — which the authorities believe to be the cause of the collapse, the Associated Press reported. The building crumbled in just a few seconds, per RAI News.
The woman’s cell phone signal was a driving force in her rescue, according to Wanted in Rome. She had been trapped in an air pocket, created by a security door that reportedly led to an attic, which kept her alive.
RAI reported that two other families were residing on the first floor — though one was out of town at the time of the collapse and the other was able to escape at the first sign the building may fall.
