Italy earthquake kills 73, injures hundreds: 'Like Dante's Inferno'

A strong earthquake in central Italy reduced three towns to rubble as people slept early Wednesday, killing at least 73 people and injuring hundreds more as rescue crews raced to dig out survivors with bulldozers and their bare hands.

The toll was likely to rise as crews reached homes in more remote hamlets where the scenes were apocalyptic "like Dante's Inferno," according to one witness. Complicating matters was that the area is a popular vacation spot in summer, with populations swelling, making the number of people in the area at the time difficult to estimate.

"The town isn't here anymore," said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of Amatrice. "I believe the toll will rise."

Massimo Percossi / EPA A view of a damaged house in Amatrice, central Italy, after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 24, 2016.

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The historical part of the town of Amatrice, Italy, is left in ruins after an earthquake Aug. 24, 2016.

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Survivors hug after the earthquake in Fonte del Campo, Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016, following a deadly earthquake.

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Italian fire personnel work on collapsed and damaged houses in Amatrice, Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016, in this handout image provided by the Italian Fire brigade.

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A general view of the town of Pescara del Tronto destroyed by an earthquake Aug. 24, 2016, in Pescara del Tronto, Italy.

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A damaged road is seen Aug. 24, 2016, in Arquata del Tronto, Italy, after a deadly earthquake.

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Search and rescue teams search for missing people amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Amatrice, Italy, after an earthquake Aug. 24, 2016.

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Bodies of victims lie in front of rescuers in the Italian central town of Pescara del Tronto on Aug. 24, 2016, after a powerful earthquake rocked central Italy.

The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including Rome, where residents woke to a long swaying followed by aftershocks. The temblor shook the Lazio region and Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast.

Premier Matteo Renzi planned to head to the zone later Wednesday and promised the area, which has suffered quakes many times before: "No family, no city, no hamlet will be left behind."

The hardest-hit towns were the tiny towns of Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 80 miles northeast of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto some 15 miles further east. Italy's civil protection agency, which was coordinating the rescue, said the provisional toll was 73 dead, several hundred injured and thousands in need of temporary housing, though it stressed the numbers were fluid.

The center of Amatrice was devastated, with entire blocks of buildings razed and the air thick with dust and smelling strongly of gas. Amatrice, birthplace of the famed spaghetti all'amatriciana bacon-tomato pasta sauce, is made up of 69 hamlets that rescue teams were working to reach.

Massimo Percossi / EPA

Search and rescue teams with dogs search for missing people amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Amatrice, Italy, after an earthquake Aug. 24, 2016.

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An injured man is carried on a stretcher by rescuers following an earthquake in Accumoli, Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016.

Angelo Carconi / AP

An injured man is carried on a stretcher by rescuers following an earthquake in Accumoli, Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016.

Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets of the city center and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as more than 40 aftershocks jolted the region into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1.

"The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me," marveled resident Maria Gianni. "I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn't hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg."

Another woman, sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders, said she didn't know what had become of her loved ones.

"It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there's nothing left," she said, too distraught to give her name. "I don't know what we'll do."

As the August sun bared down, residents, civil protection workers and even priests dug with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands to reach survivors. Dozens were pulled out alive: There was relief as a woman emerged on a stretcher from one building, followed by a dog.

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A firefighter looks on in Accumoli, Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016, after a strong earthquake hit central Italy.

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A man leans on a wall as the collapsed village of Pescara del Tronto, Italy, is seen behind him, Aug. 24 2016 following an earthquake.

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Debris litter a damaged shop in the Italian central village of Accumoli after a powerful earthquake rocked central Italy on Aug. 24, 2016.

"We need chain saws, shears to cut iron bars, and jacks to remove beams: everything, we need everything," civil protection worker Andrea Gentili told The Associated Press. Italy's national blood drive association appealed for donations to Rieti's hospital.

But just a few miles to the north, in Illica, the response was slower as residents anxiously waited for loved ones to be extracted from the rubble.

"We came out to the piazza, and it looked like Dante's Inferno," said Agostino Severo, a Rome resident visiting Illica. "People crying for help, help. Rescue workers arrived after one hour ... one and a half hours."

The devastation harked back to the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people in and around L'Aquila, about 55 miles south of the latest quake. The town, which still hasn't bounced back fully, sent emergency teams Wednesday to help with the rescue.

"I don't know what to say. We are living this immense tragedy," said a tearful Rev. Savino D'Amelio, a parish priest in Amatrice. "We are only hoping there will be the least number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on."

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A boy sleeps in the trunk of a car in Accumoli on Aug. 24, 2016, after a strong earthquake hit central Italy.

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Rescuers search amid rubble following an earthquake in Amatrice, Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016.

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Cracks litter a damaged home Aug. 24, 2016, in Arquata del Tronto, Italy, after a deadly earthquake.

Rescuers work in the Italian central village of Accumoli on Aug. 24, 2016, after a powerful earthquake rocked central Italy.

Another hard-hit town was Pescara del Tronto, in the Le Marche region, where the main road was covered in debris.

Residents were digging their neighbors out by hand since emergency crews hadn't yet arrived in force. Photos taken from the air by regional firefighters showed the town essentially flattened; Italy requested EU satellite images of the whole area to get the scope of the damage.

"There are broken liquor bottles all over the place," lamented Gino Petrucci, owner of a bar in nearby Arquata Del Tronto where he was beginning the long cleanup.

One rescue was particularly delicate as a ranger in Capodacqua, in the Marche province of Ascoli Piceno, diplomatically tried to keep an 80-year-old woman calm as she begged to get to a toilet, even though she was trapped in the rubble.

"Listen, I know it's not nice to say but if you need to pee you just do it," he said. "Now I move away a little bit and you do pee please."

This still image taken from video shows the center of Amatrice, central Italy, where a 6.1 earthquake struck just after 3:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

A damaged house remains partially intact in the Italian central village of Accumoli after a powerful earthquake Aug. 24, 2016.

AP

This still image taken from video shows the destruction in Amatrice, central Italy, where a 6.1 earthquake struck just after 3:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

An elderly man is given assistance as collapsed buildings are seen in the background following an earthquake, in Amatrice, Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

People sit on the side of a road as collapsed buildings are seen in the background following an earthquake, in Amatrice, Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:36 a.m.

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An excavator digs through rubble of collapsed buildings following an earthquake, in Amatrice, Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

Massimo Percossi / AP

A man leans on rubble of destroyed buildings following an earthquake in Amatrice Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

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This still image taken from video shows survivors and rescuers wandering in the center of Amatrice, central Italy, where a 6.1 earthquake struck just after 3:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

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A post office is engulfed by rubble in Arcuata del Tronto, central Italy, where a 6.1 earthquake struck just after 3:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

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Rescuers search a crumbled building in Arcuata del Tronto, central Italy, where a 6.1 earthquake struck just after 3:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

Massimo Percossi / AP

The side of a building is collapsed following an earthquake, in Amatrice Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

A nun checks her mobile phone as she lies near a victim laid on a ladder following an earthquake in Amatrice Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.