ROME, July 8 (Xinhua) -- All bodies of the eight persons missing from a collapsed building near Naples in Italy had been located in the rubble, firefighters confirmed Saturday morning.
Eight people, including two children, went missing when the four-storey residential building partially collapsed in the town of Torre Annunziata at dawn on Friday.
"USAR (urban search and rescue) teams have located the lifeless body of the eighth missing person," firefighters tweeted at 8:15 a.m. local time on Saturday, over 12 hours after the building fell apart.
Rescuers worked round the clock since the third and fourth floors of the building collapsed at 6:20 a.m. local time, while residents were still sleeping.
The missing included a couple with two children aged 8 and 11, the wife and 25-year-old son of an architect, a 65-year-old seamstress, and a man who works for the municipality, according to RAI public broadcaster.
The only successful rescue, on Friday, was that of a dog named Peky, whose elderly owner escaped unharmed because he had gone out around 5 a.m. local time, RAI reported.
"I saw the building crumble and I heard them screaming for help," a woman who lives across the street told Italian news agency ANSA on Friday.
"I know everyone in that building. My seamstress lives alone on the second floor."
Torre Annunziata Mayor Vincenzo Ascione said the first two floors were uninhabited and were being renovated, according to ANSA.
Televised images showed firefighters, police and volunteers digging through the rubble with their bare hands in search of survivors, with rescue dogs sniffing over the area.
A total of 80 rescuers are taking turns in the search for survivors under the sweltering heat, firefighters tweeted. It is still unknown what caused the collapse.
Naples prosecutors have opened an investigation in an effort to clarify who may be at fault, ANSA reported. The building's foundations rest on a lava outcrop overlooking the Gulf of Naples, and reportedly dates back to the 1960s. It also overlooks a railway line, where train traffic was interrupted after rubble from the collapse fell on the tracks.
