Rescuers dig with their bare hands in search of the missing

(from the correspondent Elvira Terranova) – The firefighters dig without stopping. With bare hands, among the rubble of via Trilussa, in Ravanusa, a small town in the Agrigento area. Every now and then the generator stops, the rescuers ask for silence to listen to any voices. But nothing is heard from the ‘crater’. Just silence. Molecular dogs also arrive, but nothing until late in the evening, the six missing are not found. Among them are Selene Pagliarello and Giuseppe Carmina, a young couple, expecting their child who should be born at the weekend. Selene’s father has been sitting in the car since last night. She doesn’t want to go away even to eat, she asks, crying for news of her daughter Selene. There are four collapsed buildings, including the four-storey one, where the victims and the missing lived, almost all belonging to the same family unit. Three other buildings were gutted by the shock wave of the explosion, which occurred shortly before nine o’clock last night. “It was scary. It looked like an atomic bomb, we even thought a plane crashed nearby. We are alive by a miracle “, says crying Calogero Bonanno, a teacher who lives in Palermo and who last night was at his in-laws house in Ravanusa, in via Trilussa.” My wife was breastfeeding her 4-month-old baby when we heard the outbreak and we thought that the building had moved – he says – immediately with my other two children, aged 5 and 11, we went down the street. There was glass and flames everywhere. All the fixtures burst. We didn’t know if there had been an earthquake. The fear was great. We are really alive only by a miracle “, he concludes. One of the two surviving women, Rosa Carmina, 80, is hospitalized in Licata (Agrigento) hospital. She has suffered a few fractures but is not in danger of life. they are the two grandchildren. “Just before the explosion the light went out – she says – then the darkness and the explosion. I’m alive but I’m so sorry for my grandchildren.” Mrs. Rosa lived on the first floor of the The building collapsed. The head of the Civil Protection and Fire Brigade arrived Upstairs lived the sister-in-law Giuseppa Montana, also a survivor. On the third floor lived Angelo Carmina, who is missing, his wife Enza Zagarrio who was extracted lifeless, the daughter-in-law, Selene Pagliarello, lost, as did her husband Giuseppe Carmina, son of the couple. Then, on the fourth floor lived Calogero Carmina, his wife Gioachina Calogera Minacori, and their son Giuseppe. The signira Minacori is dead, the two Carmina are missing . In the other building lived Pietro Carmina, the recently retired high school teacher, who died, and Carmela Scibetta, missing. On social media, throughout the day, the former students of the prof remembered him: “Today dear professor leaves us a huge void. I will take all his precious teachings with me ”, writes a student. “We will meet again over time and space to discuss Philosophy … To laugh at this Life that we have lived in the good and in the difficulties … Not to tire of asking ourselves questions and to always be Curious !!! Thank you Prof … For giving me your knowledge, Thank you for all the times you stopped to look me in the eyes to see if everything was ok … Thank you for making me understand that Life had to be lived and every game of it had to be played … I have always carried you in my heart and I will continue to do so ”, writes another alumnus. In the morning, the head of Civil Protection Fabrizio Curcio and the head of the Fire Department, Guido Parisi, arrived in Ravanusa. Together with the President of the Region Nello Musumeci they met the press, at the Municipality. And just as Curcio was speaking, the mayor received the call from the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. “He expressed his utmost support for the Ravanusa community and his condolences for what happened,” said the young mayor, who lost his mother just a month ago. But what happened last night in via Trilussa? The Prosecutor of Agrigento, led by Luigi Patronaggio, has opened an investigation to clarify. The crime hypothesis, currently against unknown persons, is culpable disaster and manslaughter. Patronaggio and the prosecutor on duty Sara Varazi seized the entire area of ​​the accident, over 10 thousand square meters. Appointed a pool of consultants to perform the appropriate exams. There are many hypotheses, but it is certain that there has been a gas leak, perhaps from the pipelines. The Public Prosecutor wants to understand, for example, if the gas distribution network, installed in 1984, was up to standard or if the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance was carried out. Numerous citizens reported that there had been a “smell of gas” for weeks, but this evening Italgas clarifies: “From a first immediate analysis of the event, the following emerges: There are no reports of any kind that have reached the Pronto service in the last week Intervention complaining of gas leaks “.” Following the event, the first report was made by telephone by the Fire Brigade at 21:02 to the CIS – Integrated Supervision Center of Italgas Networks Italgas – The technical staff of the Company he arrived on site at 21:20 “.” The first sectioning of the network, aimed at making the pipeline safe, began at midnight following the relative authorization by the Fire Brigade. At 2:05 am on 12/12, the ItalgasReti technicians completed the insulation operations of the section of pipeline that crosses the area affected by the event – says the company – The pipeline is made of steel with a diameter of 100 mm and is in low pressure. There were no ItalgasReti construction sites on the pipeline section concerned. The Ravanusa distribution network was fully inspected both in 2020 and in 2021 “. Meanwhile, evening has fallen in via Trilussa. The firefighters, who have never stopped, turn on the headlights with the electric generators. L he area around the explosion looks like an area devastated by a bombing. The mayor returns to the site of the disaster and announces: “We continue to search indefinitely. We are driven by the hope of finding our six fellow citizens still alive. We have the whole country on our side and the best human and technological resources are in place. Hope does not go out. “Selene Pagliarello’s father is still here, sitting in the car, and asks about his daughter.” Selene, my love, where are you, daddy’s love? “The research continues.