Good News Times 3 in Italy Quake Rescue

Pulled from rubble: 3 siblings, including preteen who saved younger brother
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 22, 2017 11:38 AM CDT
Good News Times 3 in Italy Quake Rescue
Ciro, 11, is carried on a stretcher Tuesday after being rescued by Italian firefighters from the rubble of a collapsed building on the island of Ischia, near Naples, Italy, a day after an earthquake hit the Italian resort island.   (Italian Firefighters, HO/ANSA via AP)

A preteen being hailed as a hero in the earthquake that rocked Italy's Ischia island Monday was yanked out of the rubble Tuesday afternoon, as were his two little brothers, whom he's credited with saving. The BBC reports that 11-year-old Ciro was the last of the three siblings to be pulled out of the debris—his 7-month-old brother, Pasquale, and 8-year-old brother, Mattias, were rescued earlier Tuesday, and it's said Ciro may have ensured at least one brother's survival by pushing Mattias under a bed in the family's home when the quake started. "When everything crumbled, I hugged my brother, and then when the rescuers came, I pushed him out first," Ciro was quoted by the ANSA news agency as telling rescuers, via CBS News.

"I promised them that after this was all over we would all go get a pizza together," one rescuer told local media of the efforts to save the boys, which involved firefighters digging into the wreckage with their bare hands and sending water through a tube to the thirsty children. The boys' parents had found their way out of the building and alerted officials their kids were still trapped inside. Ciro was said to have alerted rescuers to their presence by using a broom handle to make noise against the 12 feet of rubble he was buried under. Officials say one person died and several dozen were injured in the quake, which has been described as being between 3.6 and 4.0 magnitude. (More uplifting news stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X