PM Matteo Renzi Attends Funeral For Italy Earthquake Victims

Mourners wept and held each other during a state funeral for some of the victims of the Italian earthquake.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella were at the service for 35 people from the tiny hillside villages of Arquata and Pescara del Tronto.

The death toll from Wednesday's 6.2-magnitude quake now stands at 291, including three Britons .

During the funeral service, held in a gymnasium in Ascoli Piceno, Bishop Giovanni D'Ercole urged mourners to unite and rebuild their shattered community.

Fr D'Ercole said: "Don't be afraid to cry out your suffering but do not lose courage.

"Together we will rebuild our houses and church.

"Together, above all we will restore life to our communities, starting from our traditions and from the rubble of death."

Two of the coffins were painted white for two children killed.

The youngest victim is an eight-month-old girl whose mother survived the devastating earthquake that struck L'Aquila in 2009.

Central Italy was hit by a series of aftershocks overnight, ahead of a national day of mourning.

The strongest measured 4.2-magnitude.

Several funerals were held on Friday and a common funeral service for the dead in the hard-hit towns of Amatrice and nearby Accumoli will take place next Wednesday.

Relatives of some of the dead visited an airport hangar in the regional capital of Rieti on Friday to see the bodies of their loved ones that had been taken there.

PM Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency in the area affected by the quake and authorised an initial €50m (£42m) in crisis funding to start the rebuilding process.

Before attending the state funeral Mr Renzi was shown the extent of the damage in Amatrice, which has 230 confirmed deaths.

Nine bodies were recovered from the town on Saturday.