Rescue workers dig by hand in search for seven people reported missing in the residential building in the seaside town of Torre Annunziata

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Rescue workers found the bodies of three people in the rubble of a five-storey apartment building that partially collapsed south of Naples on Friday.

Crews dug mostly by hand to search for seven people reported missing in the residential building in the seaside town of Torre Annunziata, three miles from the Pompeii archaeological site.

The cause of the collapse remained unknown but authorities were investigating whether it was related to renovation work in the building, which stood near a passenger rail line.

Officials had said seven people, including two children, from two families were missing. An elderly resident who had been believed to be inside was later accounted for.

Witnesses said they did not hear an explosion before the collapse sometime after 6am, but that a train had just passed the building, according to the Ansa news agency.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The five-storey apartment block collapsed early on Friday. Photograph: Ciro Fusco/AP

Images show the structure partially collapsed, revealing the interiors of some apartments. About 80 rescue workers were passing hand-dug rubble out in buckets, as firefighters on long retractable ladders checked the stability of the section that remained intact.

Firefighters asked for silence among onlookers during the search in hope of hearing survivors, and the work was paused periodically to allow sniffer dogs to check the scene.

The train line that passes Mount Vesuvius and connects Naples with such tourist sites as Pompeii and the Amalfi coast was temporarily closed after the collapse.

The Italian railway said in a statement that the vibrations from passing trains had no impact on the stability of adjacent buildings.