Aftershocks shake village as last bodies are removed

SAN GIULIANO DI PUGLIA, Italy -- Wails of grief gave way to howls of panic Friday when aftershocks jolted this village as it recovered the last of 26 children -- including all the first-graders except one -- killed when an earthquake destroyed their school.

Two elderly woman were killed in their homes and a teacher was crushed with her students Thursday as they prepared to celebrate Halloween. Officials said late Friday that the final death toll was 29.

After Friday's secondary temblors, authorities ordered San Giuliano di Puglia's 1,900 residents to evacuate the town as accusations mounted about shoddy construction in a quake-prone zone.

Illegal construction is rampant in southern Italy, and prosecutors on Friday opened an investigation into the collapse of the school, one of the few buildings in town that was destroyed by the 5.4-magnitude temblor.

Critics also questioned why authorities hadn't designated the region, about 140 miles southeast of Rome, a quake-prone area, which would have required stricter, anti-earthquake building regulations.

Chunk of generation gone

The shock of Thursday's loss turned San Giuliano Di Puglia silent Friday, but for the cries of relatives. This remote, tightly knit community is composed largely of farmers producing olive oil, and many felt like a chunk of the next generation was gone.

"In this moment more than in any other, you can't express your sadness," said 69-year-old Matteo Campanelli, who lost four grandchildren in the rubble. "They were children. Let's hope the angels embrace them."

He spoke at the entrance of a gymnasium outside the town center that had been converted into a morgue, where families wailed alongside open caskets.

Most of the dead children had been covered. But a few could be seen lying in caskets, alongside basketballs, toys, photos and soccer jerseys that relatives chose to bury with them.

One child was rescued alive Friday, more than 15 hours after the quake: 9-year-old Angelo, who was pulled out at 3:54 a.m.

Residents evacuated from their homes were spending the night in a tent city erected on the village's sports fields. News reports said 3,000 people in the affected region remained homeless.

Earlier Friday, rescuers extracting the final corpses hurtled down the heap of rubble when the aftershocks rumbled through town, including one registering a 5.3 magnitude. But they returned to remove the final body, that of a teacher credited with saving several pupils.