Nine being investigated over Pompeii collapses

Nine people are under investig-ation for two collapses in the famous ancient Roman city of Pompeii that shocked the culture world last month, judicial sources said yesterday. An ancient training centre for gladiators collapsed into rubble in Pompeii on...

Nine people are under investig-ation for two collapses in the famous ancient Roman city of Pompeii that shocked the culture world last month, judicial sources said yesterday.

An ancient training centre for gladiators collapsed into rubble in Pompeii on November 6 and a wall protecting a home known as the House of the Moralist fell down on November 30, causing widespread international outrage.

Among the people under investigation by prosecutors in nearby Torre Annunziata are the former director of the site and the current head of excavations, ANSA news agency reported. The two declined to comment.

Pompeii was entombed by the massive eruption of the nearby Mount Vesuvius volcano in AD 79, but was partly excavated and attracts thousands of visitors every year to one of the best-preserved ancient sites in the world.

But the Unesco World Heritage site has fallen into serious dis-repair in recent years. In 2008, Italy declared a state of emergency for Pompeii.

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