The Italian government has extended the duration of its search for survivors of Monday's earthquake in the Abruzzo region as far as Sunday.
But rescue workers believe the chances of finding anyone alive are remote, and so will focus on recovering bodies and assessing the extent of the damage.
Earlier, the death toll rose to 278 after three bodies were removed from a collapsed student building in L'Aquila.
About 28,000 people have been left homeless around the stricken region.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been criticised for suggesting the 18,000 people living in tents should treat it as a "weekend of camping".
Preparations are meanwhile under way for a state funeral on Friday for most of the victims. It will also be a day of national mourning.
As long as we know that there are people under the rubble, we will keep searching even if we're sure they're dead.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, will lead a memorial service in a suburb of L'Aquila, Abruzzo's capital.
Thousands of people attended the funeral on Wednesday of 25-year-old student Danilo Ciolli, in his hometown of Carovilli in the neighbouring Molise region.
In Loreto Aprutino in Pescara, the funeral was also held for Giuseppe Chiavaroli, a 24-year-old student. Residents broke into applause as a mark of respect as his coffin was carried into the church.
Pope Benedict XVI said he would visit the region "as soon as possible", although a Vatican spokesman said this was unlikely to happen within the next two weeks.
'Annihilated'
On Wednesday evening, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the search for survivors would be extended by two days to Sunday. At least 10 people are still missing and believed to be under the rubble.
It could be months before those displaced can return to their homes.
The BBC's Helen Fawkes in the village of Castel del Monte says hopes are fading that anyone will be found alive.
No survivors have been rescued since late on Tuesday and officials say they are now concentrating on recovering bodies and assessing the damage.
Early on Thursday, three bodies were pulled by rescue workers from the ruins of a four-storey university dormitory in L'Aquila. In all, seven students were killed when the building collapsed.
At least 16 children, including a five-month-old baby, were killed by Monday's 6.3-magnitude earthquake.
"As long as we know that there are people under the rubble, we will keep searching even if we're sure they're dead. Families need to know what happened to their loved ones," one fireman told the Reuters news agency.
A series of aftershocks has been complicating rescue efforts. One 5.2-magnitude tremor at 0253 (0053 GMT) on Thursday caused damage to buildings in L'Aquila and several nearby villages, but there have been no reports of any further victims.
Hundreds of engineers have meanwhile begun evaluating the damage caused to public buildings and homes in the region, to see which ones are safe.
During a visit to L'Aquila on Wednesday, Prime Minister Berlusconi said it could take up to two months to calculate the full scale of the destruction.
Between 3,000 and 10,000 buildings are thought to have been damaged in L'Aquila, likely to make the 13th Century city of 70,000 uninhabitable for some time.
The head of the Italian Red Cross said it could be months or even years before all the displaced people could return to their own homes.
"This city has been annihilated and I don't think we'll ever go back to that house, our house. It's full of ghosts and fear," said Claudio Gaudieri, one of those living in a tent camp in L'Aquila.
"We lost everything," he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment