A strong explosion and then the collapse. A four-storey building, in via Galilei, in Ravanusa, in the province of Agrigento, collapsed after a violent explosion, probably due to a gas leak. Twelve people are missing. Among them three children, a young pregnant woman and her husband. Other properties were also damaged. As for the causes, it is not yet clear whether a cylinder has exploded, whether there has been a gas leak even if it seems probable that a city gas pipeline has burst. Italgas technicians are working to secure the network. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.
The mayor of the town, Carmelo D’Angelo, has launched an appeal asking neighboring countries to send tankers: “What happened is a disaster – he said – I ask for help from anyone who had a tanker, come on the spot”. Dozens of people lived in the building, the firefighters are extinguishing the flames that have invaded the entire street, also damaging other buildings, before proceeding to remove the rubble.
A building collapses in the Agrigento area, the appeal of the mayor of Ravanusa: “We need shovels and tankers”
Numerous teams of volunteers from the Civil Protection, the fire brigade, the Red Cross and the auxiliary coast guard, coming from different municipalities of the Agrigento area, went to Ravanusa. In particular, the appeal launched by D’Angelo was accepted by the mayors of Licata, Palma di Montechiaro and Naro.
After the explosion, around 8.30 pm, people took to the streets in fear in the village of over 10 thousand inhabitants located 50 minutes by car from Agrigento and more than two hours from Palermo. The alarms of cars and some houses began to sound. Rubble, pieces of frame, furniture, doors were thrown tens of meters away. In the area of the explosion, dozens of people arrived who could not trace the relatives who live in that area transformed in a few seconds into a battlefield.
“I am close to the Ravanusa community which is experiencing moments of apprehension following the explosion caused by a gas leak. I pray for those who are working to contain the danger and to ascertain the hoped-for absence of victims”. The bishop of Agrigento Alessandro Damiano says so.
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