Hero boy saved little brother when quake hit, say rescuers

CASAMICCIOLA TERME, Italy - Eleven-year old Ciro, the last child to be pulled from the rubble on the Italian island of Ischia on Tuesday, saved his little brother's life when the deadly earthquake struck, rescuers workers said.

Firefighters had to dig with their bare hands to reach the youngster, who had been buried along with his 7-year old brother Mattias and 7-month old half-brother Pasquale.

"It was Ciro who saved Mattias," said policeman Andrea Gentile. "He dragged him and pushed him under the bed with him, a gesture that without a doubt saved both their lives.

"Then with a broom handle he banged on the rubble so the rescuers could hear him."

Monday's magnitude-4.0 quake killed a 59-year old mother-of-six in Casamicciola, on the north of the small tourist island, after debris fell from a church.

The other victim was a 65-year old Italian tourist discovered in the rubble of a collapsed house, local media said.

But as a dusty Mattias was pulled free from the rubble, firefighters broke into applause. Ciro, rescued after 16 hours in the dark, was loaded into a waiting ambulance.

"Don't leave me, don't let me die," he had begged his saviors, Italy's AGI news agency reported.

The boys' father, his hands in bandages after a night digging through the rubble alongside the firefighters, tearfully hugged relatives as his eldest son was saved.

Earlier, after hours of digging overnight, emergency workers had recovered the baby, Pasquale. He was saved by kitchen cabinets that toppled over him, shielding him from the debris of the collapsing house, they said.

Two small communes, Casamicciola and neighboring Lacco Ameno, bore the brunt of the quake, according to the civil protection agency.

The quake hit the northwest of the island at 8:57 pm on Monday, at a depth of just 5 kilometers.

Italian officials first put the quake at a magnitude-3.6, but later revised it to 4.0 - in seismic terms, a modest event.

The main earthquake was followed by 14 smaller aftershocks. Several buildings collapsed while others had large, ominous cracks. As well as the two deaths, 42 people were injured, one seriously.

The quake struck just days ahead of the first anniversary of the magnitude-6.0 quake that killed nearly 300 people in and around Amatrice in central Italy.

Agence France-presse