Man who set fire that killed 3 fireman did it for insurance

(ANSA) - Alessandria, November 11 - A man who set fire to his farm building leading to an explosion that killed three firemen last week confessed to doing it to get the insurance money at the weekend.
    Giovanni Vincenti was the owner of the farm building at Quargnento near Alessandria. There was supposed to be only an initially explosion to burn down the building, he told police, but an error in the timer set off five gas canisters after the firemen had arrived and were trying to douse the blaze.
    Vincenti denied an intention to kill.
    An Alessandria prosecutor said Thursday that the farm building explosion that killed the three firemen on Monday night was intended to kill.
    "Whoever did it, did it to kill," said Enrico Cieri of the blast at Quargnento.
    "It's clear that the incident was not due to a neighbours' row, but it much more serious".
    The condition of a Carabinieri police officer, Roberto Borlengo, and two firefighters, Giuliano Dodero and Graziano Luca Trombetta, who were injured in the blast is improving, medical sources said Wednesday.
    Three firefighters - Antonio Candido, Marco Triches and Matteo Gastaldo - died in the explosion in Quargnento and an investigation has been opened into the incident, which prosecutors suspect was caused deliberately.
    Borlengo, the Carabinieri officer, called the central station to ask for help right after the blast saying, "be quick because everything has collapsed here, we are dying".
    Investigators initially looked into possible motives including a family fight or an incident caused to get insurance money.
    Rudimentary primers and wires connected to gas canisters that did not explode were found in the building where the blast took place, investigative sources said.