16 killed in quake in Italy

Associated Press

SAN FELICE SUL PANARO, Italy

Workers at the small machinery company had just returned for their first shift after Italy’s powerful and deadly quake earlier this month when another one struck, collapsing the roof.

At least three employees at the factory — two immigrants and an Italian engineer checking the building’s stability — were among those killed Tuesday in the second deadly quake in nine days to strike a region of Italy that hadn’t considered itself particularly quake prone.

By late Tuesday, the death toll stood at 16, with one person missing : a worker at the machinery factory in the small town of San Felice Sul Panaro. Some 350 people also were injured in the 5.8-magnitude quake north of Bologna in Emilia Romagna, one of Italy’s more productive agricultural and industrial regions. Originally, government officials had put the death toll at 17, and there was no immediate explanation for the lowered figure.

Factories, barns and churches fell, dealing a second blow to a region where thousands remained homeless from the May 20 temblor, much stronger in intensity, at 6.0 magnitude.

Seven people were killed in the May 20 quake.