Naples building crumbles - eight missing
- Published
The collapse happened in a district near Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius
Rescuers in southern Italy are trying to find eight people missing after an apartment block collapsed in Naples.
Italian media say two families were living in the four-storey building that collapsed in Torre Annunziata district. Two children are among those missing.
The cause remains unclear. Neighbours did not report hearing any explosion - just the crash of masonry at dawn.
Some masonry fell on the nearby Naples-Salerno railway line, so traffic on it has been suspended.
It is a seismically active area but there is no suggestion that an earth tremor jolted the building.
There are suspicions that the collapse could be linked to vibrations from the railway, or to renovation work that was under way on the lower floors.
A sniffer dog team is helping - it is a silent search so that any sound from the rubble can be detected
The first two floors were being renovated and were empty at the time
The apartment block was built in the 1950s-1960s, the local mayor said