Moments of panic this Monday morning in Rome, when part of one side of the 13th century Conti Tower, in the center of the Roman Forum, collapsed, raising a large cloud of dust that invaded the road, at that time full of tourists. “It was 11:24, I know this because I immediately started recording a video. I was taking orders from some tourists at the table on the terrace and suddenly a noise was heard, we ran away,” a waiter from one of the pizzerias opposite, on the other side of the street, told EL PAÍS.
Rehabilitation work has been going on in the tower for months, as it had been in a state of abandonment since 2006, and the collapse surprised several workers who were on the scaffolding installed in that part of the building. At least one of them has been trapped under the rubble, and has spent 11 hours in the rubble until he was able to be rescued after 10:30 p.m. Applause from the crowd present greeted him when he was lowered into an ambulance, in which he was transferred to the Umberto I Polyclinic in serious condition, according to the Italian media. 140 firefighters have worked on the operation.
This person is 66 years old, his name is Octay Stroici and he is of Romanian nationality, like several of the employees, according to the Italian media. He has always been conscious and spoke with the firefighters who had managed to get very close to him. His wife anxiously awaited the outcome at the foot of the tower, accompanied by the Romanian ambassador in Rome. There is also a seriously injured person, but out of danger, a 64-year-old man, transferred in the morning to the San Giovanni hospital with a skull trauma.
At least three other workers were rescued with minor injuries, including some who had been isolated on the terrace at the top of the tower and who were evacuated by firefighters with an escalator. Rescue teams have also entered through one of the tower’s windows, searching for possible trapped people. In total, according to the Italian agency ANSA, there were 11 workers working at the site at that time. The Rome Prosecutor’s Office has already opened an investigation to determine the causes and possible responsibilities of the accident.
Around 12:50, while firefighters were already working at the scene, a second collapse occurred, this time internal, but none of them suffered any damage. Once again a large cloud of dust has spread in the surrounding area. As reported by the prefect of Rome, Lamberto Giannini, by then the firefighters had already managed to set up a protection facility for the trapped person, which has prevented his situation from getting worse. They had reached him, but the new collapse has made the rescue even more complicated.
“It will be a long and complex operation, because the risk of collapse is very high,” Giannini announced early in the afternoon, and so it has been. Night fell and firefighters continued working with the help of spotlights and flashlights. After the second collapse, the authorities have expanded the security perimeter of the area, given the possibility that new collapses may occur or the tower may collapse completely.
The complex, an example of the medieval towers that the great Roman families built in that area, is located in Corrado Ricci Square, in the heart of the Roman Forum, located at the intersection of Via Cavour and the Avenue of the Imperial Forums. It measures about 29 meters high, although in reality its original height reached almost three times that, these towers were sometimes true skyscrapers of the time. Successive earthquakes in the following centuries lowered it until the contemporary era, although it remains the second highest in the city at that time. The first nucleus dates back to the 9th century, but it was in 1203 when Pope Innocent III had it expanded and increased in height for his family.
The surroundings of the building had already been delimited by a fence for months, due to the work, which has prevented pedestrians from passing near the tower at that time. However, the debris has gone over the fence and has reached the road. “At that moment people were passing by, but everyone ran away, luckily no one was hurt,” says a waiter from another of the restaurants in front of the scene of the incident.
The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, whose office is very close, on the other side of the Forum, in the Capitol, and the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, who also has his offices very close, attended the place.
The work on the tower is part of the numerous restructuring works undertaken in Rome with European funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
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