Quake: Man digs his dead kids out with bare hands

(ANSA) - Rieti, August 26 - A hospital nurse in the Lazio town of Amatrice, which was flattened by a 6.2-magnitude August 24 earthquake, said Friday he dug his two dead children out of the rubble with his bare hands.
    Carlo Grossi, who has worked as an emergency responder at Amatrice's Grifoni Hospital since 1981, managed to rescue his ex-wife who was still alive after digging through what was left of their house with the aid of the family dog, Laga.
    But 21-year-old daughter Anna and 23-year-old son Franco didn't make it.
    "Anna and Franco didn't realize what was happening," said Grossi, who is taking part in rescue operations following the quake despite his loss. "The earthquake took them away from me in their sleep and there was nothing I could do for them".
    "The first body I found after rescuing my wife was my daughter Anna's," he added.
    "I saw her braid first".
    The nurse said he then found his son in his habitual sleeping position: face down, with his arms open hugging the mattress.
    The family house was completely destroyed.