WORLD> Europe
Death toll in Italy quake reaches 260
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-08 23:40

Rescue workers continuing their search still held out hope to find somebody alive. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the rescue efforts would likely continue until Easter Sunday, beyond the period originally indicated by Berlusconi.

"It all depends on the conditions, if the person under the rubble has any air or water," Cristian Martinez, from the Spanish rescue organization Unidad Canina, said as his dogs ran across a pile of rubble that had once been a four-story building in L'Aquila.

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Martinez explained that his dogs, which have been sent across the world after quakes and other catastrophes, "would bark if they found a live body and would start digging if they found a dead body."

So far, the dogs had found no signs of any living human beings in the debris.

"But we don't give up hope," said Martinez, adding that his dogs had once found somebody alive 11 days after a quake in Pakistan.

On Tuesday, rescue officials pulled a young woman alive from a collapsed building about 42 hours after the main quake struck the mountainous region.

Eleonora Calesini, a 20-year-old student, was found alive in the ruins of the five-story building in central L'Aquila.

Officials said some 10,000 to 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed in the 26 cities, towns and villages around L'Aquila, a city of 70,000 that is the regional capital of Abruzzo.

Teams started inspecting some buildings still standing Wednesday, including an 18th-century church in downtown L'Aquila, which had been damaged in the quake. Teams also began surveying houses to see if residents can move back in, Berlusconi said.

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