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Italy quake survivor saved by kitchen table

The last survivor to be pulled alive from the rubble after a killer earthquake hit northeast Italy escaped death by sheltering under her kitchen table as the building collapsed around her.

The woman, 65, spent 12 hours under rubble on Tuesday before firemen with sniffer dogs heard her cries for help and dug her out from under the ruins of the five-storey building in Cavezzo which had caved in when the quake hit.

"The woman was under a piece of furniture in the kitchen. The furniture saved her, it was a miracle," one of the firemen told ANSA news agency.

The woman was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Italy was struggling Wednesday to come to terms with the latest disaster which left 16 people dead and thousands more homeless just nine days after another deadly quake devastated the region.

Her house had been declared unsafe after the 6.0 magnitude quake on May 20 but the woman, who had been living in a tent camp, had gone back in to the building to collect clean clothes when Tuesday's quake hit, reports said.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck the small town of Cavezzo hard, killing three residents, reportedly destroying three quarters of homes and ripping apart the local church.

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