An incident at a construction site in Italy's Florence kills 3 workers and leaves 2 missing

ROME — An incident at a supermarket construction site in the Italian city of Florence on Friday killed at least three workers and left two others missing, local officials said.

The incident happened when a reinforced concrete beam toppled over a slab of a pre-fabricated building, which then collapsed. Local authorities said rescue teams were searching for the missing and that they fear the death toll could rise further.

Three other workers who were pulled out from the rubble of the collapsed building were taken to local hospitals and were later said to be in serious condition. Tuscany region’s president, Eugenio Giani, said there were about 50 workers on the site at the time of the accident.

The supermarket under construction is part of Italy’s Esselunga chain.

Giani told Italian TV SkyTg24 that the incident could have been even more tragic, as a minibus with children was passing near the site at the time. He added that the tragedy would “push all of us to commit strongly to avoid something similar ever happening again.”

Two street cleaners who arrived on the site shortly after the accident said they could hear the cries of injured workers calling out for help.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences on X, formerly Twitter, and said she was following the developments “with apprehension.”

Italy’s three largest unions — CGIL, CISL and UIL — called for a “general strike” in Tuscany following the accident to demand better safety measures.

“No more deaths at work,” said their joint statement.

In 2021, the last year for which there is official data from the statistics agency Eurostat, Italy registered 601 workplace deaths. It was the second-highest figure in the European Union after France that year.