At least three workers died and three others were hospitalized with serious injuries after one of the main wall supports collapsed and a concrete slab fell on them at a construction site in the Italian city of Florence, local authorities said on Friday. that the death toll may rise, Reuters reports. The three injured workers are Romanians, TVR reports.

At least three workers died and three others were hospitalized with serious injuries after one of the main pillars of a wall collapsed on them at a construction site in the Italian city of Florence, local authorities said on Friday, warning that the death toll could rise. is growing, reports Reuters. The three injured workers are Romanians, TVR reports.

The three victims taken to the hospital are Romanians, aged between 36 and 51, and were unskilled workers. One is out of danger, the other two are in intensive care. The workers worked for a company that was a supermarket subcontractor under a tender.

Firefighters wrote on the X social network that the accident occurred in the northwestern district of Florence.

“Three deaths have been confirmed … two more are missing,” said Monia Monni, a civil protection official in Tuscany, the region that includes Florence.

She told Reuters that eight people were on the scene at the time of the accident.

At the same time, she reported that two out of three hospitalized workers are in serious condition, but their lives are not threatened.

Earlier, Eugenio Giani, president of the Tuscany region, told SkyTg24 that the chances of finding more survivors under the rubble are very slim.

Workplace accidents are quite common in Italy, and unions often complain about poor working conditions on site and a lack of oversight by health and safety authorities.

According to statistics agency Eurostat, Italy recorded 601 workplace deaths in 2021, the second highest rate in the European Union after France.

Prime Minister Georgia Maloney expressed her condolences to the families of the victims.

“We are following the development of the case and we are praying for the injured and those who are still missing,” she said during an event in the southern region of Calabria.

Workers were building a supermarket for the Esselunga chain. Company president Marina Caprotti also expressed her sadness and announced that all Esselunga stores in Florence will close in the afternoon “as a sign of mourning.”