31 Killed as Apartment Building Collapses in Southern Italy; Water Seepage Blamed

A six-story apartment building weakened by water seepage collapsed into the street before dawn Thursday in this southern town of 15,000, killing at least 31 residents.

Rescue workers, surrounded by screaming relatives, dug through rubble and shattered furniture for the missing.

Civil defense officials, who gave the casualty figures, said that five children were among the dead and that the final toll probably will not be determined until today.

Fifteen families, a total of about 70 people, lived in the building, which police said collapsed “like a castle of cards” at 4:15 a.m. Police and firemen using body-heat sensors found 11 survivors beneath the debris.

There were conflicting reports of the number still missing and presumed dead. One Italian news agency, quoting police sources, said up to 15 were missing. Another agency quoted a parish priest as saying that only a young couple and an old woman were unaccounted for.

Paulo Guerri, a neighbor, gave this report of the building collapse: “It went down almost without any noise. Suddenly, I heard screams. . . . When I looked outside, the building was almost gone. Only one side of it was standing. . . . I saw naked people with blood all over them.”

After a preliminary investigation, police said the building’s foundation had been severely weakened by water seepage. Town hall records show that the tenants repeatedly complained about water leaks on all floors.

Prosecutors were preparing to file manslaughter charges against officers of the company that built the apartment house and criminal negligence charges against the town’s building inspectors.