Seven senior Italian officials and scientists were today told they risked being tried for manslaughter for failing to evacuate the city of L'Aquila before it was hit by an earthquake last year.

According to the website of the newspaper La Repubblica, the heads of Italy's geophysical institute and the national earthquake centre were among those formally notified that they were suspects in an inquiry conducted by prosecutors in L'Aquila. Were they to be indicted, it would doubtless spark furious controversy in the scientific community over the degree to which scientists can be held responsible for predicting natural events.

All seven attended a meeting six days before the disaster at which it was decided that a series of tremors in the area did not necessarily signal a major event was imminent. But L'Aquila's chief prosecutor, Alfredo Rossi, said: "Those in charge were highly qualified people who ought to have given different responses to the members of the public."

More than 300 people died in the 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Giampaolo Giuliani, a scientific technician working near L'Aquila, had warned of ominously high radon emissions, but was put under an injunction not to spread alarm.