'A miracle': Three brothers, including a seven-month-old baby, pulled alive from rubble after earthquake hits Italian holiday island of Ischia

Three brothers, including a seven-month-old baby, were pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed building on the Italian holiday island of Ischia after it was hit by an earthquake that killed two people and injured 40.

Firefighters, who at times had to dig away at the rubble with their bare hands, described the survival of the baby boy as “a miracle”.

The infant, Pasquale Marmolo, was rescued by firemen at around 4am local time on Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours trapped beneath the wreckage of the smashed building.

Still wearing a nappy and a little cotton sleep suit, he cried but seemed otherwise unscathed as he was pulled to safety.

“0400, Ischia, a miracle – baby pulled alive from the rubble,” the Italian fire service announced in a tweet.

Italian Carabinieri police officer and a doctor carry a child after an earthquake hit the island of Ischia
Italian Carabinieri police officer and a doctor carry a baby rescued after an earthquake hit the island of Ischia Credit: REUTERS

Firemen clapped and cheered as the baby was lifted gently out of the dusty wreckage.  

Several hours later his seven-year-old brother Mattias was pulled from under the bed where he had taken refuge.

The last to emerge was the oldest of the three brothers, 11-year-old Ciro, after 16 hours trapped in the darkness.

Ciro probably saved his brother’s life by pushing him under a bed when the quake struck. Both sustained cuts, bruises and minor fractures.

“It was Ciro who saved his little brother Mattias. After the quake hit, he shoved him under the bed, which saved the lives of both of them. Then with a broom handle he tapped the rubble so that rescuers would hear them,” said Andrea Gentile, a police officer involved in the rescue.

 

Rescuers kept up the boys’ spirits up by constantly talking to them and passing them bottles of water.

"There was silence for a while, they were tired. Then they began speaking again and we drew comfort from that," said Luca Cari, spokesman for the fire service.

An emergency worker said: "I promised them that after this was all over we would all go and get a pizza together.”

The boys' father, whose hands were bandaged after he spent the night helping firemen claw through the wreckage, hugged relatives tearfully as his eldest son was rescued. The boys’ mother also survived unscathed.

Fire fighters "worked for hours without a break to save the three children," the fire service said.

The 4.0 magnitude quake hit the island, which is located near Capri in the Bay of Naples, at 8.57pm on Monday.

A doctor carries a child after an earthquake hits the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples
A doctor carries a baby rescued after the earthquake hit Ischia Credit: REUTERS

It struck at a depth of three miles and came just three days before the anniversary of the 6.0 magnitude quake that hit central Italy last year, killing almost 300 people in the hill town of Amatrice and surrounding villages.

The fatalities on Ischia consisted of two Italian women - a 59-year-old mother of six children, who was killed by masonry falling from a church, and a 65-year-old holidaymaker who was visiting from the mainland. 

Around 40 people were injured.

The brunt of the quake was borne by the village of Casamicciola, where several houses collapsed.

“There was a very loud noise, a rumble. It was like a bomb. At first, we didn’t understand that it was an earthquake,” said Simona Postiglione, a local resident.

"I was driving and the car was lifted off the ground. I thought it was a gas explosion," said Claudio Niola, another person caught up in the quake.

The powerful quake caused panic on the island, which was packed with Italian and foreign tourists.

A woman is helped out of debris and rubble after an earthquake hit the island of Ischia,
A woman is helped out of debris and rubble after an earthquake hit the island of Ischia, Credit: Reuters

“When the quake hit we all ran out into the street. It was very frightening,” an Italian holidaymaker told the Ansa news agency.

Ciro Pastore, who was on holiday with his family, said: "I was on the couch watching TV and I was thrown to the ground. It was like a bomb."

A hospital had to be evacuated after cracks appeared in its exterior walls. Some patients were flown by helicopter to nearby Naples.

Three extra ferries were provided to enable people to leave the island if they wished.

Tourists wheeled hastily-packed suitcases through the streets, eager to escape Ischia as soon as possible.

People remove debris after an earthquake hit Ischia island, near Naples, Southern Italy, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017
People remove debris after an earthquake hit Ischia island, near Naples, Southern Italy, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 Credit: ANSA

The island, renowned for its thermal spas, has been hit by earthquakes several times before.

In 1883 around 2,300 people died after a powerful quake hit the island.

The latest disaster sparked a familiar debate in Italy about a lack of earthquake prevention measures. 

Experts said it was absurd that there should be so many dead and wounded from a relatively mild quake, blaming shoddy building and a lack of planning regulations.

"It's frankly extraordinary that people continue to die for earthquakes of this size," said Francesco Peduto, the head of the National Geologists Association.

Mario Tozzi, a geologist and science writer, said some of the houses that collapsed appeared to have been “built without any regard at all for earthquake prevention measures.”

The standard of construction did not reflect the fact that Ischia was in a “well-known seismic zone,” he said.

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