AMATRICE: Strong aftershocks rattled central Italy and shut down a key route into the hard-hit town of Amatrice on Friday as hopes dimmed that firefighters would find any more survivors from the earthquake that killed at least 267 people.

The Italian government declared on Saturday a day of national mourning and scheduled a state funeral to be attended by President Sergio Mattarella. Some crumbled buildings in Amatrice cracked even further after the biggest aftershock of the morning struck at 6:28am. The US Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8. The shaking ground also damaged a key access bridge to Amatrice, forcing emergency crews to close it and making an already challenging traffic flow into the town worse. Civil protection officials were working to find alternate routes, since the bridge is crucial for emergency crews moving in and out of town.

The aftershock was preceded by more than 50 overnight and was followed by another nine in the next hour — part of the nearly 1,000 aftershocks that have rocked Italy’s central Apennine Mountains since the original 6.2-magnitude quake early on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016