Italy toll quake climbs: at least 18 dead

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Resucers and residents clear debris in search for victims in damaged homes after a strong heathquake hit Amatrice on August 24, 2016. Central Italy was struck by a powerful, 6.2-magnitude earthquake in the early hours, which has killed at least three people and devastated dozens of mountain villages. Numerous buildings had collapsed in communities close to the epicenter of the quake near the town of Norcia in the region of Umbria, witnesses told Italian media, with an increase in the death toll highly likely. / AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE
Rescuers and residents clear debris in search for victims in damaged homes after a strong heathquake hit Amatrice on August 24, 2016.
Central Italy was struck by a powerful, 6.2-magnitude earthquake in the early hours, which has killed at least three people and devastated dozens of mountain villages. Numerous buildings had collapsed in communities close to the epicenter of the quake near the town of Norcia in the region of Umbria, witnesses told Italian media, with an increase in the death toll highly likely. / AFP PHOTO /

ROME, Italy (AFP) — At least 18 people have died after a powerful earthquake struck central Italy in the early hours of Wednesday, according to local officials.

Deaths were reported in three villages in a mountainous area straddling the regions of Lazio and Marche: Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto.

At least 10 people died in Pescara, a hamlet that is part of the bigger village of Arquata del Tronto, according to civil protection officers cited by the ANSA news agency.

Six bodies were recovered at Amatrice, according to the president of the Lazio region, and two at Accumoli, according to the town’s mayor.

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