Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation over the death of a worker trapped when a medieval monument in central Rome partly collapsed.

Octav Stroici, 66, was rescued on Monday night after 11 hours under fallen masonry but died of his injuries at the city’s Umberto I hospital…

Stroici, from Suceava in northern Romania, had lived with his family in Italy for more than 30 years...

Stroici had been among a team of 11 undertaking restoration works at the 29-metre Torre dei Conti, near the Colosseum, when it suffered two collapses on Monday...

They were employees of specialist restoration companies hired by the council to make the monument more secure under a project financed by the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund...

In a statement, the office added that “structural investigations, load tests and core sampling were conducted to verify the static suitability of the structure” and that the checks had “confirmed the necessary safety conditions” for restorations to begin.

There is speculation that the building’s stability could have been affected by an earthquake of magnitude 3.3…Others cited the construction of an underground station at nearby Piazza Venezia...

The incident has reignited the debate on workplace safety in Italy, with Cgil, the country’s biggest union, blaming poor safety standards. According to the union, an average of three lives are lost each day in workplace accidents...

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into culpable disaster and manslaughter.