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A medieval tower in central Rome has partly collapsed twice during renovations, trapping one worker on an upper floor and injuring another.
Falling debris from the initial collapse of the Torre dei Conti, close to the Roman Forum ruins, just after 11.30am (1030 GMT) hit a 64-year-old worker, the Ansa news agency reported. He was taken to San Giovanni hospital in a critical condition. Francesco Rocca, Lazio’s regional president, said the worker’s injuries were not life-threatening.
With hundreds of tourists and passersby looking on, firefighters rescued three other workers from scaffolding on the 29-metre tower. During the operation, at about 1pm, an internal section of the tower collapsed, leaving one worker trapped on an upper floor.
“We are trying to get him out alive but the situation is complex because of the risk of further collapses,” said the national fire department spokesperson, Luca Cari. The worker was reported to be “vigilant” and rescuers were assisting him with breathing.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang and seeing clouds of dust. One told Corriere della Sera: “I saw a worker fall.”
Firefighters flew a drone through a window to inspect the site.
One worker inside at the time of the first collapse said he escaped from a balcony. “It was not safe. I just want to go home,” said the man, white dust covering his uniform, who gave his name as Ottaviano and his age as 67.
Elena, from the UK, who like others did not want to give her last name, works at Shamrock, a pub with views of the tower from its outside seating area. She said she had been preparing to open the pub when the first collapse happened.
“It felt a bit like an earthquake,” she said. “I saw a man trying to get out by walking down the scaffolding – I didn’t realise people were inside working on it.”
She said people living in the apartments opposite rushed on to the street when they heard a loud bang and felt their building shake.
Sue and Don, a couple from the UK, had been having breakfast at a restaurant in front of the monument earlier in the morning when they heard loud drilling. “It seemed they were drilling deeply into the building and we wondered what they could be doing,” Sue said.
The couple then went to visit the Colosseum and when they returned the area was closed off and a rescue operation under way.
Caterina, who was born in the Italian capital, was among the large crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene. “I have never experienced anything like this in central Rome before,” she said. “It is centuries old and therefore a very important monument. Maybe something was hit during the works that destabilised the structure.”
Queen Paglinawan was working in a nearby gelato shop when she heard two loud noises in quick succession. “I was working and then I heard some like falling, and then I saw the tower collapse in a diagonal way,” said Paglinawan, 27, as yet another collapse occurred in the background.
Viktoria Braeu, 18, a student from Germany, passed by the scene just as the collapse during the firefighters’ rescue happened.
“We were just at the Colosseum … and we were just walking to get some food. And then we were like: ‘It’s probably not long until it’s going to go down,’ and then it just started erupting,” Braeu said.
The area of the Forum and Piazza Venezia, which is continuously packed with tourists and traffic, has been cordoned off. The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, were at the scene.
The Torre dei Conti was built in the 13th century by Richard Conti, brother of Pope Innocent III, as a fortified residence for his family. It was damaged in an earthquake in 1349 and there were collapses in the 17th century.
The restoration works are being financed by funds from the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund.
AFP, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
