Rome— At least 10 people are feared dead after a powerful earthquake struck central Italy in the early hours of Wednesday, according to officials cited by local media.
The national civil protection agency said it could not give an official toll as rescue efforts were still under way.
The first confirmed victims of the 6.2-magnitude quake which devastated dozens of villages were an elderly couple whose home collapsed at Pescara del Tronto in the Marche region to the east of the epicenter, national broadcaster Rai and other media reported.
One other person was reported dead at Accumoli, a village close to the epicenter, and two corpses were recovered from the rubble of a collapsed building in Amatrice.
The mayor of Arquata del Tronto, near Pescara, said that, in addition to the one confirmed death, four people were trapped under rubble and not responding to residents trying to reach them.
The AGI news agency said at least one other person had died in Accumoli, a village close to the epicenter.
“We have a tragedy here,” said the village mayor Stefano Petrucci. “For the moment one death is confirmed but there are another four people under the rubble and they are not responding.
“It is a disaster, we have no light, no telephones, the rescue services have not got here yet.”