This nine-month pregnant nurse and her husband are among at least seven killed in a building collapse in Italy.

Four houses collapsed and three others were damaged following an explosion triggered by a suspected leak from a gas pipeline in the town of Ravanusa in the province of Agrigento on the island of Sicily on Saturday night (11th December).

Rescuers have since been scouring the rubble for survivors.

Three bodies were found between Saturday night and Sunday morning, and four more were found with the help of sniffer dogs shortly after 6:30 AM today (Monday, 13th December).

Two people are still reported missing.

The latest victims include 30-year-old Selene Pagliarello, who worked as a nurse in the emergency room of the Hospital San Giovanni di Dio in the city of Agrigento.

She was nine months pregnant.

Ravanusa mayor Carmelo D’Angelo described her death as “a real tragedy”.

Selene’s husband Giuseppe Carmina is also among the victims, as are his parents, 68-year-old history and philosophy teacher Pietro Carmina and 69-year-old Maria Crescenza Zagarrio.

Selene and Giuseppe, who married in April this year, were visiting Giuseppe’s parents at their home on the third floor of the four-storey building at the time of the collapse.

Another victim has been named as 59-year-old Calogera Gioachina Minacori, and over 100 people are reported to have been left homeless by the blast.

The Agrigento Public Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Luigi Patronaggio, has opened an investigation for culpable disaster and manslaughter into the incident.