At least 120 people were killed in the earthquake that struck central Italy, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said.
"At this moment, 120 lives have been lost," Renci said at a press conference, reports Ansa.
The Italian Prime Minister indicated that the death toll could rise, since there were a lot of tourists in the town of Amatrice, which was hit by the earthquake.
"If this had happened in October, it would have been easier to count the victims, but today the number of inhabitants in the affected places is ten times higher," said Renci.
He said that all measures will be taken to help the vulnerable and that to that end, the government will declare a state of emergency tomorrow, reports Ansa.
As many as 150 people are missing, and most of the victims are in Peskara and the villages of Amatriče and Akumola.
A strong earthquake, with a magnitude of 6,2 on the Richter scale, struck the mountainous part of central Italy early this morning.
The earthquake caused serious damage to a number of towns and villages, but it does not seem to have affected more densely populated areas, reports Reuters.
The most affected villages are Akumoli, Amatrice, Posta and Arquata del Tronto.
The earthquake was registered at 03.36:170 a.m., not far from Perugia, and it hit an area located about XNUMX kilometers from Rome and was felt in a wide area of central Italy, after which many people ran into the streets, according to AP.
The first earthquake was recorded shortly after 03.30:5,4 a.m., as announced by the American Geological Survey, while another one followed an hour later, with a magnitude of XNUMX.
The earthquake was so strong that it woke up the residents in the center of Rome.
Many buildings collapsed in small communities near the epicenter of the earthquake in a sparsely populated area that includes the Umbria, Marche and Lazio regions.
As soon as dawn broke, residents with shovels and rescuers with bulldozers began clearing roads and pulling apart rubble in search of victims.
The first victims of the earthquake, which destroyed dozens of villages, were an elderly couple whose house collapsed in the town of Pescara del Tronto in the Marche region, east of the epicenter, RAI and other Italian media reported, reports AFP.
Alessandro Petrući, the mayor of neighboring Arcvata del Tronto, says that Peskara is one of two to three villages that have been completely destroyed.
One person was also reported dead in Akulomi, a village near the epicenter, while two bodies were recovered from the ruins of a building in Amatrice.
The mayor of Arquata del Tronto, near Pescara, said four more people were buried in the rubble and unresponsive to residents trying to pull them out.
Officials say that Akumoli and Amatrice are the most affected by the earthquake.
"Half of the village is gone," said Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi, who said access to the village was blocked, preventing rescue services from reaching it.
"On one road there is a landslide, on the other a bridge almost collapsed... We can hear the voices of people under the ruins," Pirozzi told Italian media.
The mayor of Akumoli, Stefano Petrući, says that no signs of life can be heard under the ruins, where people are buried.
Italy's earthquake institute reported 60 aftershocks in the four hours after the first, with the strongest measuring 5,5.
Italy is one of the most seismically active countries in Europe, according to Reuters, recalling that the deadliest earthquake since the beginning of the 20th century hit the country in 1908, when an earthquake that caused a tsunami killed around 80.000 people in the southern regions, while the last major earthquake recorded in L'Aquila in 2009, claiming more than 300 lives.
Renci: Authorities in contact with affected areas, help is arriving
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Twitter, after the strong earthquake that hit the central area of Italy early this morning, that the authorities are in contact with the officials of the affected areas and that additional help has been sent to them, according to French media.
Amatriče: A favorite picnic spot of the Romans in ruins
The small town of Amatriče, about 160 kilometers northeast of Rome, known as a favorite excursion spot of the Romans, was the hardest hit in last night's earthquake, and according to information from the field, half of this place was completely destroyed.
"Half of the city does not exist. Now the goal is to save as many people as possible. We hear voices from under the ruins, we have to save those people," said mayor Serđo Piroci.
He also said in a statement to Italian TV that there is a danger of the bridge collapsing and a landslide.
Reuters also reports that the local hospital was badly damaged in the earthquake and that the patients were taken out into the street.
Amatriče is a nice little place not far from Perugia and is a famous holiday destination for Romans in search of mountain freshness during the summer.
Also, the famous spaghetti sauce was named after this place, and many chefs who prepared food for the popes were from Amatrice.
Gradić has about 3.000 inhabitants.
Pope Francis: Prayer for victims instead of addressing the faithful
Pope Francis, instead of the announced address to the public, prayed with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square in Rome for the dead and survivors of the catastrophic earthquake that hit central Italy.
"I am very saddened after hearing the mayor of Amatrice say that "the city no longer exists" and that children also died in the earthquake," Pope Francis said in front of tens of thousands gathered.
There are no Montenegrin citizens among the victims
Based on the available information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has no knowledge that any Montenegrin citizens were killed or injured in the earthquake in Italy.
As announced by the Ministry, the Embassy of Montenegro in Rome is in constant contact with the Italian competent authorities regarding the earthquake that struck central Italy early this morning, in which 37 people died.
The phone numbers of the Embassy of Montenegro in Rome are +39 06 888 577 45 and +39 32 039 22 837.
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