At least 247 people have
been killed in central Italy following the 6.2-magnitude quake in the early
hours of Wednesday.
A 10-year-old girl has been
rescued from the rubble of the Italian earthquake - after being trapped upside
down for 17 hours.
A firefighter clutched her
tightly to his chest after she was freed from the ruins of a building in the
town of Pescara del Tronto.
Crowds had gathered round
after one person spotted signs of life under the rubble, saying: "You can
hear something under here. Quiet quiet."
Footage shows her
dust-covered legs poking out of the debris, with cheers breaking out as the
pony-tailed youngster was eventually freed.
Jubilant rescuers shouted
"she's alive" as she was carried away.
Firefighter Danilo Dionisi
said: "The 10-year-old girl was just pulled out now from the rubble and
she is being taken to the hospital and that is good news.
"As far as the rest is
concerned, the images speak for themselves, you can see what the town looks
like."
The frantic search for survivors
is continuing, but the mayor of the hardest-hit town - Amatrice - says he
believes the death toll will rise.
Rocks and metal fell on to
the streets in the centre of Amatrice and dazed residents sheltered in piazzas
as more than 40 aftershocks hit the region in the early hours.
Some of the survivors have
described apocalyptic scenes "like Dante's Inferno" after the quake,
with buildings razed to the ground and dust and gas filling the air.
The epicentre was northeast
of Rome, near Norcia in Umbria, and sent tremors across the rural central spine
of Italy.
Guido Bordo, 69, lost his
sister and her husband after they were trapped inside their holiday house in
the hamlet of Illica, near Accumoli.
"There's no sound from
them, we only heard their cats," he said, before their deaths were
confirmed.
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