The death toll following the collapse
overnight of a balcony of the Vela Celeste (Sky Blue Sail)
building in the town of Scampia near Naples has risen to two,
authorities said on Tuesday.
Naples Prefect Michele di Bari said a man, aged 29, and a woman,
35, had died while 13 people had reported injuries, including
seven children between the ages of two and eight.
Authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse and
the 800 residents of the building, including 300 children, have
been evacuated.
Several other 'Sails' apartment buildings have been torn down
over their state of decay in the crime-ridden district.
A 'restyling' of the area, which is trying to make a civic
comeback after years of being identified with the Camorra mafia
and drug pushing, has started and the municipal administration
announced in April renovation work on the 'Vela Celeste' to be
funded under the Piano Periferie (suburbs plan) with some 18
million euros.
The Sails were an iconic backdrop in the hit Camorra TV show
Gomorra (Gomorrah), based on Roberto Saviano's expose' of the
same name which earned the anti-mafia writer death threats that
forced him into a police protection programme.
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