The first funerals were scheduled for some of the 267 dead. Some of hard-hit Amatrice's crumbled buildings suffered more cracks after the biggest aftershock of the morning struck at 6:28 am. The US Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8. While Premier Matteo Renzi hailed the fact that 215 people had been rescued since the quake, civil protection officials reported only a steadily rising death toll that stood early Friday at 267. Nevertheless, civil protection operations chief Immacolata Postiglione insisted that the rescue effort continued in full, "in search of other people trapped in the rubble."

Source: dna August 26, 2016 07:49 UTC