A 66-year-old worker, Octav Stroici, died after being trapped for nearly twelve hours when part of Rome’s medieval Torre dei Conti collapsed.

He was conscious during the rescue, but his heart stopped in the ambulance and doctors were unable to save him.

Stroici, a Romanian national, had been carrying out conservation work on the abandoned 13th-century tower near the Roman Forum.

Rescue efforts were complicated by the tower’s instability, with firefighters using drones and protective measures to reach him safely, the BBC has reported.

Italian authorities have opened an investigation, and officials, including the mayor and culture minister, visited the scene to oversee the response.