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L'AQUILA, Italy - Jarring aftershocks sowed panic in Italy's earthquake zone Thursday, terrifying the thousands of homeless victims sheltering in crowded tent camps as the death toll reached 278.
Two lifeless bodies were pulled from the ruins of a student dormitory in the centre of the Abruzzo capital L'Aquila early in the morning after a night punctuated by three powerful aftershocks.
Hundreds of people could be seen sleeping in their cars, and soldiers were in their trucks with the engines running as the early spring temperature hovered around five degrees Celsius (40 Fahrenheit).
Monday's quake has claimed 278 lives according to the latest toll reported by Italian television, with between 20 and 30 people still missing and 179 of the injured in a serious condition, according to police.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the search for survivors would be extended by two days to Sunday, though hopes were fading fast and aftershocks were complicating efforts by destabilising the search-and-rescue sites.
The strongest overnight aftershock, coming just before 3:00am (0100 GMT), registered 5.2 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Rome, a two-hour drive to the southwest.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was expected in the devastated city later in the day, after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made three visits to the region in as many days.
At an athletics track converted into a tent village sheltering some 400 quake survivors Nicola Tudisco, a clown wearing an orange hat and a large white apron over baggy trousers, was handing out chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies to the children.
"It's the old people who really need help," he said, however. "They're the most traumatised. The children ... have had a rude shock, but they can also play and forget about it," Tudisco told AFP.
Nearby, some Franciscan monks were converting a tent into a makeshift chapel, where they planned to celebrate a mass for Maundy Thursday, the Christian feast day commemorating the Last Supper of Christ. Some 30 tent cities dot the disaster zone sheltering nearly 18,000 people.
On Wednesday, the first funerals were held as plans were announced for a national memorial service for those who lost their lives in the disaster.
Catholic tradition normally prohibits funeral masses on Good Friday, but the L'Aquila diocese has received special permission from the Holy See to go ahead with the observance, to be led by Vatican number two Tarcisio Bertone.
The service will be held in a suburb of the Abruzzo capital L'Aquila where most of the bodies are lying in a hangar at a police barracks and training centre.
Berlusconi's government has estimated three billion euros (four billion dollars) will be needed to repair or rebuild some 10,000 buildings damaged in the quake.
Some 7,000 police, soldiers and other emergency service personnel and volunteers were taking part in the earthquake operation, including psychologists offering grief and trauma counselling.
Outside the area's main hospital -- condemned and evacuated because of damage from the quake -- doctors performed more than 280 operations in less than 36 hours, an official told AFP.
The most serious involved cranial, pelvic and chest fractures as well as internal bleeding, heart problems and epileptic seizures, Mario Caroli said.
Donations have been pouring into special bank accounts set up to help the survivors and the Italian Senate's 315 members decided to have 1,000 euros deducted from their salaries for the cause.
Speaking just days before Christians mark their Easter holiday, Pope Benedict XVI said he would visit the disaster zone "as soon as possible" but a Vatican spokesman told AFP that such a visit would not take place within the next fortnight.
- AFP/ir
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