Word: balvano
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...largest group of victims was found in the rubble of the 15th century Church of Santa Maria Assunta at Balvano. Three hundred parishioners, mostly mothers and children receiving instructions for their First Communion, were attending evening Mass when the marble floor began to heave and the heavy candlesticks to wobble on the main altar. "It was as though a giant passing train had shaken the building to its foundations," recalled Father Giuseppe Pagliuca, the parish priest. As the terrified congregation fled toward the doors, the huge roof split in two and collapsed, throwing Pagliuca clear but burying the worshipers under...
Touring the stricken region by helicopter on Tuesday, Pope John Paul II visited a hospital and stopped in Balvano to comfort the grieving townspeople. "I come as a brother," the Pontiff said in his quiet, Polish-accented Italian, his white garments stained from embracing grimy survivors. "I want to tell you that you are surrounded by compassion on the part of all Christians...
...some areas, the telephone company set up special switchboards so that villagers could reach relatives in America and Northern Europe. One man in Balvano called his brother-in-law in West Germany, but did not have the heart to reveal the family tragedy. "You'd better come home because things are not going well for us here," the caller said. The emigrant worker had lost his wife, his four children, his brother and his mother...
...were rescued after more than five days of entrapment. Earlier, workers sifting through the ruined hospital at Sant' Angelo de' Lombardi found three babies still alive. Among them was Carmencita Antoniello, born prematurely just five days before the quake. She had been trapped in her incubator. In Balvano, 90-year-old Donata Zarillo was rescued after spending 30 hours trapped in the wreckage of her kitchen. "We heard her beating a piece of wood against the wall," explained Fireman Giancarlo Rocchi...
...locomotives spun on the slippery rails, smoke poured from the stacks, swirled about the passengers. In the caboose, still sticking out of the tunnel, a brakeman heard strange noises coming from the freight cars ahead, realized something was terribly wrong, ran back down the track to Balvano. When he arrived, Assistant Stationmaster Giuseppe Salonia-told by the next station that 8017 had not arrived-was trying to figure out where the train could be. Rescuers rushed to the tunnel in a locomotive. From inside came the sound of the stalled engines still puffing slowly; bodies were sprawled beside the track...