Italy quake death toll reaches 260

As rescue teams continued searching through the debris for survivors, a young woman was pulled alive from a collapsed building about 42 hours after the main quake struck the mountainous region.

Eleonora Calesini, a 20-year-old student, was found alive on Tuesday evening in the ruins of the five-storey building in central L'Aquila, said her grandfather, Renato Calesini.

"She's safe!" he said, adding that her father had gone to the devastated city in the snowcapped Apennine mountains to try to locate the student, who wears a hearing aid. She reportedly had an arm injury but was otherwise in a good condition.

The dead included four students trapped in the rubble of a dormitory of the University of L'Aquila.

Rescue crews gave up gingerly removing debris by hand and brought in huge pincers that pulled off parts of the dorm roof, balconies and walls, showering debris down.

"Unless there is a miracle, I've been told (by rescuers) that they probably are dead," university rector Ferdinando Di Orio said.

The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the area soon.

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi says the visit is expected to take place soon after the Easter holiday Sunday.

Officials estimate some 10,000 to 15,000 buildings have either been damaged or destroyed in the 26 cities, towns and villages around L'Aquila, a picturesque city of 70,000. Teams plan to begin surveying those buildings still standing to see if residents can move back in.