3 survivors rescued from rubble of collapsed apartment building in Naples, Italian officials say

In this frame grab taken from a footage made available by the Italian firefighters is show a wing of a three-story apartment building collapsed in Torre Del Greco, Sunday, July 16, 2023, a seaside suburb of Naples. (Italian Firefighters Via AP)

ROME — A wing of a three-story apartment building collapsed Sunday in a seaside suburb of Naples, and three people were pulled from the rubble alive, Italian officials said.

"As of now, there are no indications of people missing,' said Luca Cari, a spokesperson for Italy's national firefighters' corps, of the collapse of the building in Torre del Greco, a town 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Naples.

Firefighters initially said they pulled out two survivors. Later a local interior ministry official confirmed Italian media reports that a third survivor was rescued.

Local officials told reporters at the scene that all persons were accounted for.

"It's a miracle, really a miracle," Torre del Greco Mayor Luigi Mennella told state TV. Some 23 people lived in the building, and the town was working to find temporary housing for those residents and some 20 others who lived in adjacent buildings, he said.

Among those pulled alive from the mound of rubble was the owner of a pizzeria down the block who happened to be in front of the building when it collapsed, Rai state TV said.

Survivors were being treated in hospital for fractures, Rai said.

Two passersby were slightly injured by fragments of debris and were treated at the scene, Italian news reports said.

Rai TV said five families were living in the building, which it described as run-down in Italy's southern Campania region.

Firefighters tweeted that dogs trained to search for people in building collapses worked with the rescue teams, who brought in earth-moving equipment to aid their efforts. Police and firefighters scrambled over a mound of rubble in their search.

Cause of the collapse of the building, believed to be about 200 years old, was under investigation.