By Deepa Babington and Antonella Cinelli
L'Aquila - Rescuers searched by lamplight in freezing temperatures for a second night for survivors of an earthquake in central Italy and pulled out 15 more bodies, bringing the death toll to 250.
Thousands of survivors of Italy's worst quake in three decades passed a fitful night in tent villages as a series of strong aftershocks hit the mountainous region of Abruzzo, hampering rescue efforts and causing at least one more death.
Aftershocks rattled the ground throughout the night, straining the nerves of the local population.
The strongest on Tuesday night toppled buildings, including parts of the basilica and the station, as the sun set on the historic mountain city of L'Aquila, which bore the brunt of the disaster.
L'Aquila's mayor said the 5.6 magnitude aftershock left one resident dead while in Rome, 100km to the west, furniture shook in the upper floors of buildings. A 76-year-old Roman man was reported to have died of a heart-attack.
"In the last two nights, I've slept three hours at most. I feel physically and mentally tired from the lack of sleep and the fear," said Ilaria Ciani, 35, spending the night in a large blue tent at a survivors' camp in a sports field near L'Aquila.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has declared a national emergency and sent troops to the area, set up 20 tent camps and 16 field kitchens to provide hot food and accommodation for 14 000 people.
Hundreds of emergency workers, many of them volunteers, used mechanical diggers and their bare hands to remove piles of rubble in L'Aquila and nearby villages devastated by the quake.
On Tuesday night rescuers burst into applause when a 20-year-old girl was found alive 42 hours after the quake in the ruins of a four-storey building.
"A rescue like this is worth six months work," said Claudio, a fireman from Venice.
At least 250 bodies were being stored in a makeshift mortuary at a school for Italy's Finance Police outside L'Aquila, local media reported.
The first funeral of a victim was due to take place on Wednesday, in the town of Loreto Aprutino, led by the archbishop of Pescara. Some 1 000 people remain injured, about 100 seriously, and fewer than 50 were missing.
Many of the victims were students at L'Aquila's university. A fireman from the port of Pescara who came to help rescue efforts collapsed in tears after unearthing the body of his stepdaughter, who was studying there.
Working by floodlight, rescuers used a crane to dismantle a ruined university dormitory in the hope of finding survivors. As darkness fell, workers dragged out the bodies of two of the four students still missing. - Reuters