Death of pupil takes toll from Italian quake to 30

The earthquake which demolished the village school of San Giuliano di Puglia in central Italy has claimed its 30th victim, another pupil.

Umberto, aged nine, one of the first children to be rescued from under the rubble after the school collapsed, died of liver and circulation failure on Monday night at Bambin Gesu paediatric hospital in Rome after a month struggling to recover from his injuries. He was the 27th pupil to die.

Adriano Ritucci, president of the committee of victims of the school, who also lost a child in the disaster, said: "Umberto died twice. Another tragedy has struck our community that has already been severely tested. We are reliving that horrible day, once again we all have tears in our eyes."

The school, which also lost one teacher, reopened a fortnight ago in a series of tents. Many houses were damaged by the quake, but the school was one of the few structures to disintegrate completely.

The disaster prompted an urgent investigation into the safety of other Italian schools, and a criminal investigation into the construction of San Giuliano's school in particular.