Two people were killed and 13 injured after a third-floor balcony collapsed Monday night in Naples.
Emergency services rushed to the scene of the incident, identified as the Vela Celeste residential complex in the Neapolitan suburb of Scampia, and had to dig through the rubble to rescue the people.
According to local media, the terrace, which was built on a metal structure, collapsed after breaking away from the building shortly after 11pm last night.
A 29-year-old man died instantly, while a 35-year-old woman died after being taken to hospital.
Seven of the injured are children, one of whom is in critical condition.
Two dead and 13 injured after a balcony on the third floor of a residential building collapsed on Monday night in the Scampia district of Naples
Emergency services were called to the scene and reportedly had to dig through the rubble to get people out. A 29-year-old man died instantly, while a 35-year-old woman died after being taken to hospital.
People who were evacuated from their apartments look at the collapse of a balcony in the Vela Celeste housing complex in Scampia, Naples
Terrified neighbours described the horrific moment the balcony collapsed, which they described as sounding like an earthquake accompanied by a loud bang, according to an Italian media outlet. Brochures reported.
Mayor Gaetano Manfredi, commenting on the tragic incident in X, said: “What happened tonight in Scampia saddens me. We are closely following the rescue operations and our social services are on the scene to provide assistance.”
This comes after four people were killed and dozens more injured in May after a building collapsed “down to the basement” at a beach bar in Mallorca’s Playa de Palma called Medusa Beach Club.
There were fears that British tourists were among the victims before it emerged that most of the establishment’s tourists were Dutch.
The devastating accident claimed the lives of a 23-year-old Navarrese worker, two German tourists aged 20 and 30, and another 44-year-old Senegalese client living in Palma, according to the Mallorca Daily Bulletin.
Of the 13 injured, seven are children. Pictured: an ambulance at the site of the collapsed balcony in Naples yesterday
People wait outside the site of a balcony collapse in Naples, Italy. Mayor Gaetano Manfredi said Tuesday that social services had been sent to the scene to help residents.
On Monday evening in Naples, debris was found at the site of a balcony collapse. Terrified neighbours described the horrific moment when the balcony collapsed, which they said sounded like an earthquake accompanied by a loud noise.
Firefighters secure the site of a balcony collapse in Naples
The owner of the popular beach club on the Spanish island was later arrested for manslaughter when police revealed the “overcrowded” illegal structure.
The structural transformations of the beach club would have been noticed by municipal technicians who saw how the building suffered a series of changes, going so far as to rule in a Technical Inspection of Buildings in 2017 that the area of the premises was already catalogued as not passable for extension works.
At the site of last month’s horror collapse, several patrons were reported to have been dancing in the chill-out area when the terrace suddenly collapsed beneath them.
The debris fell to the ground floor, from where it then spread to the basement and within seconds panic gripped the area.
Customers who managed to survive screamed for help and witnesses of the destruction began calling emergency services.
“In one minute we receive dozens of calls,” a police spokesman said last month.
When the first patrols arrived at the scene, they found that there was a pile of rubble on the ground floor of the two-storey building.
The screams of those who survived and those trapped could be heard echoing through the streets.
“It was horrendous,” one firefighter said.
Cartago Street was temporarily closed so that emergency crews could clear the scene and carry out their rescue mission without interruption.
(tags to translate)dailymail
