Italian emergency services were battling to rescue a Romanian worker on Monday trapped for hours under rubble following the partial collapse of a medieval tower in central Rome, near the Colosseum.
“We are trying to get him out alive, but the situation is complex because of the risk of further collapses,” national fire department spokesperson Luca Cari told Reuters about ongoing rescue efforts.
Parts of the 29-metre Torre dei Conti crashed to the ground on at least two occasions, videos posted on social media and Reuters footage showed. The first took place at around 10:30 a.m. local time, the second about 90 minutes later.
Clouds of dust came billowing out of the windows, along with the sound of collapsing masonry. The second incident took place while firefighters were working on the structure with aerial ladders.
None of the firefighters were injured.
WATCH | Worker injured in collapse:
Video captures moment part of a medieval building collapsed in Rome
Firefighters were on the scene on Monday when part of Torre dei Conti — a 29-metre medieval tower near the Colosseum in Rome — collapsed, leaving one worker in hospital with serious injuries.
The trapped worker survived the second collapse, but operations to get him out “will be very long and difficult because of the very high risk of [more] collapses,” Rome Police Chief Lamberto Giannini told reporters.
“The situation remains critical. We have colleagues present to provide consular assistance and communicate with the Italian authorities. The work of the firefighters is vital at this moment,” Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silva Toiu said on X.
A second worker, also Romanian, was pulled out almost immediately and hospitalized with serious but not life-threatening head injuries, while two more workers suffered minor injuries and declined hospital treatment.
The tower, which was due to be converted into a museum and conference space, is located halfway along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, the broad avenue that leads from central Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum.
The building was still standing, but showing significant internal damage.
Members of emergency services work at the scene of the partial tower collapse on Monday. In addition to one trapped worker, three others were injured, with one taken to hospital. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)
It once hosted city hall offices but has not been in use since 2006 and was being worked on as part of a four-year renovation project due to end next year, according to Rome city authorities.
Due to the EU-funded restoration work, the area around the tower was closed off to pedestrians.
The building was erected by Pope Innocent III for his family in the early 13th century, and was originally twice as high, but was scaled down after damage from earthquakes in the 14th and 17th centuries.