2 dead in Ischia quake (4)

(ANSA) - Naples, August 22 - Two people were killed and at least 39 injured in a 4.0 magnitude earthquake on the popular Bay of Naples island of Ischia Monday night.
    The two dead were women, one buried by plaster in a church and the other engulfed by the ruins of her house.
    Rescuers are digging to find a boy, aged three, in the ruins of a house that collapsed at Casamicciola after his two brothers aged three and seven months were pulled out alive.
    Firefighters weer said to be close to the boy, Ciro, after pulling out Mattias.
    One of the injured is in a serious condition.
    Many tourists have already left the island on specially laid-on ferries.
    Civil Protection chief Angelo Borrelli and fire service chief Bruno Frattasi are on the island.
    The government is set to call a state of emergency and the civil protection department will appoint a special commissioner after the earthquake, the department said in a statement.
    The two dead woman have not yet been identified.
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has vacationed several times on Ischia, voiced her "deepest closeness" with the islanders and "with the rescuers who are doing their best to help".