Messina: building collapses – 7 missing and 3 injured. ‘Structural failure’
The building in Pistunina housed a supermarket, a shop and a number of flats. The fire was extinguished by the fire brigade.
It was not the explosion of a gas cylinder, as initially thought, but rather a structural failure that led to the collapse of a two-storey building in Messina, in the Pistunina area, along State Road 114, on the afternoon of Thursday 30 July. The firefighters are deployed with several teams, USAR operatives, dog handlers, drones and cave, mountain and river rescue units in the search for seven missing people.
“The official figure is that there are seven people missing,” explains the mayor of Messina, Federico Basile. According to various sources, four of them are believed to be members of the same family. Some investigative sources, however, claim that there are six people missing, not seven. The mayor added that “the collapse was not caused by an explosion, as was initially thought”. The reasons for the incident are believed to lie in structural problems. According to reports, maintenance work was being carried out on the ground floor of the building.
The 2,500-square-metre building, dating from the 1980s, housed a supermarket and another retail outlet on the ground floor and first floor, and four flats and a terrace on the second floor. It was the family members of those living in the building who alerted the fire brigade that they were unable to get in touch with their relatives. The Public Prosecutor for Messina Antonio D’Amato visited the scene, announcing that an investigation will be launched to determine the causes of the collapse.
Three people were injured: they were taken by 118 emergency services staff to the Policlinico di Messina. One of the patients arrived at hospital with a red alert status, which was later downgraded to orange; one was classified as orange and another as blue. None of them are in a life-threatening condition.
Mayor Basile has ordered the immediate activation of the Municipal Operations Centre (COC) to coordinate relief efforts and provide the necessary support to those affected by the collapse of the building in the Pistunina district. The Social Services department of the Municipality of Messina has also been mobilised and is on hand to provide assistance to families affected by the emergency. “We are in constant contact with all the authorities involved in the emergency,” said Mayor Basile, “the activation of the Coc and the Social Services will enable us to guarantee every form of support and solidarity for those affected, by making all the necessary municipal resources available.”
