The Torre dei Conti, a medieval tower near Rome’s famed Colosseum, partially collapsed on Monday, seriously injuring a worker and trapping another inside, Italian officials said.
Emergency workers were trying to recover the worker trapped by the rubble, according to Luca Cari, a spokesman for Rome’s fire department, but the rescue efforts were proving difficult because the structure had become unstable.
The trapped worker had “given signs of life,” Lamberto Giannini, Rome’s prefect, told reporters at the site of the collapse, but his condition was unclear. Mr. Cari said rescuers could hear the worker, who had been inside at the time of the collapse, but could not see him.
Mr. Giannini said the rescue attempt would be “a long and complex operation” because of the safety risks for rescuers.
“We hope the outcome will be positive, but it is not simple,” he said.
Two other workers sustained minor injuries in the collapse, according to officials. Workers were on scaffolding when an initial collapse took place, according to the Italian news agency ANSA, and had to be rescued by a fire department ladder truck.
A second partial collapse occurred as firefighters were conducting a rescue operation. The worker was trapped by that second collapse, Mr. Cari said.
The group was part of a team conducting restoration work on the tower, which had been used in modern times for municipal offices until 2006. The tower, built in the 13th century, had fallen into a state of “total abandonment” in recent years, and nearly 7 million euros, or roughly $8 million, has been allocated for its restoration, according to a municipal website.
The tower, which stands nearly 100 feet tall and is near the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, was initially used by Pope Innocent III as a residence for his family. It has sustained various structural and cosmetic changes over the centuries.
The tower is a “perfect example” of the fortified residences built by aristocrats and high-ranking clerics during Middle Ages, according to Rome’s tourism website. Its base was constructed on the ruins of the Temple of Peace, built in the first century, in the Roman Forum.
It is also about a third of its original height. The upper floors were destroyed “by a series of earthquakes, especially those of 1348, 1630 and 1644,” according to the website, and the damage prompted significant restoration in the 17th century.
The tower was tentatively scheduled to reopen in 2026 after a four-year restoration project.
After the collapse on Monday, police barricades blocked off the streets leading to the tower, which is at the crossroads of a street that leads from the Colosseum to the central Piazza Venezia. Emergency vehicles and several fire trucks surrounded the base of the tower, and by midafternoon, several trucks had arrived to help remove rubble from the site.
About six hours after the collapse, specialized firefighters positioned a hose through a window about 30 feet from the ground and began extracting rubble from inside the building, near where the worker was trapped.
As night fell, floodlights were brought in so that the rescue effort could continue.
City officials declined repeated requests for interviews, saying that their priority was the rescue of the trapped worker.
Elisabetta Povoledo is a Times reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years.
Ali Watkins covers international news for The Times and is based in Belfast.
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