A woman was found alive 42 hours after the earthquake devasted the town. Eleonora, a young woman, age 20, survived 42 hours beneath the debris of a 5-storey building in Villa Gioia.

Trapped for almost two days under the rubble, but yesterday at 9 p.m. Eleonora escaped. The Fire Services teams from Venice, Bergamo and Cuneo were hauling debris away when they heard Eleonora's cries for help. She was trapped ina sort of niche formed by fallen reinforced pilasters, which somehow protected her from the aftershocks.

Props and special devices were immediately installed to allow fire-fighters to free girl, miraculosly still alive after so many hours. Lifting the cushions designed to support and lift collapsed structures were also used. Eleonora was still conscious when two fire-fighters reached her, crawling through the narrow hole they had opened in the rubble.

Appliances and devices delivered by the Province granda were essential to the success of the operations. Different vehicles were deployed to the site, such as the "Carro Crolli" (emergency truck for the collapses), that is a truck equipped with everything canbe used to lift and cut iron or reinforced concrete, and a "Policombi" (multipurpose emergency truck) that is also equipped with cutting and forcible entry tools.

Eleonora suffered injury to both an arm and a leg; both were crushed under a large chunk of concrete. When she was pulled free her general state was fairly good and she even managed to say a few words before being taken to the hospital.