Relatives of the missing watched in agony today as rescuers dug by hand for survivors in the earthquake ravaged Italian city of L’Aquila.

Rescuers worked frantically through the night in the central Italian city of L’Aquila searching for survivors of the earthquake that has killed 179 and injured more than 1,500.

Rescuers were continuing to sift through rubble today in the hope of finding more survivors of Italy’s deadliest earthquake in nearly three decades.