An attic of a restaurant in Pistoia where a wedding reception was taking place collapsed: five people in code red were taken to hospitals.
Initially the toll of the injured, according to what the firefighters learned, was 64 people but the president of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani, on social media, specified: “I am in direct contact with our hospitals and healthcare workers who are giving their all. The situation at the moment, 30 injured, five of them seriously: two people with red codes in Pistoia hospital, two in Careggi, one in Prato. Five yellow codes transported to Prato, Pistoia, Torregalli and Lucca. Twenty green codes divided between Pescia, Torregalli, Lucca, Empoli and Pistoia”. About a hundred rescuers were on site, Giani later announced.
Late in the evening, the central Tuscany local health authority reported that 35 people were injured in total. Of these, 12 were transported to the San Jacopo hospital in Pistoia, the others to the hospitals of Lucca, Pescia, Prato, Careggi and Torregalli. Six people were injured in code red but which, according to what was made known by the health authority, are not in danger of life. Among the people hospitalized at San Jacopo also the groom and the bride. The emergency plan has been activated in the Pistoia hospital due to a massive influx of injured people.
The collapse occurred in a hall on the first floor of the former Giaccherino convent, which has been used as a restaurant for some years. Some guests had already left the party, but around sixty people, mostly young people, remained inside the venue and they were dancing when suddenly the attic floor collapsed. The sinkhole swallowed up those present who found themselves on the ground floor, covered by debris.
A few dozen people were injured. Rescue services immediately arrived on the scene with several ambulances, the firefighters of the provincial command of Pistoia, the police, the carabinieri and the traffic police. There were no victims. There are many fire brigade teams on site, for the moment only from the Pistoia command. Dozens of Mercy, Public Assistance and Red Cross ambulances have arrived and are constantly coming and going and taking the injured to the various hospitals. Mayor Alessandro Tomasi also arrived on site.
“All hospitals have been alerted for timely aid and assistance in order to manage as many patients as possible. Beyond Pistoia, Prato, Lucca, Careggi and Cisanello, come on!”, wrote Giani. The public prosecutor of Pistoia, Tommaso Coletta, went to the restaurant where the floor collapsed in a hall on the first floor causing dozens of injuries. Rescue efforts are in full swing.
Ambulances travel back and forth to hospitals. According to what can be seen outside the former convent, there are numerous guests in the garden waiting to be evacuated. They were provided with thermal blankets. To facilitate ambulance routes, an access road to the former convent was closed.
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