While rescue crews are struggling against time to save people under the rubble in parts of central Italy after the devastating 6.2 earthquake hit the country leaving 268 people dead, personal stories of some of the victims and their lives are beginning to emerge. Italian newspaper La Stampa reports on some of the people who lost their lives in the disaster.

A 60-year-old expert on earthquakes and a member of Italy’s civil emergency service, named Ticciana Lo Presti was killed in her ancestral home while trying to help her elderly mother who had been hospitalised.

Among the victims was the head a head of Italian traffic police Ezzio Tuli, 42, who was killed with his two sons, aged 14 and 12, while on vacations in the village of Amatrice. His wife managed to escape.

Gianpaolo Pace, 43, was a police officer who was living in Pescara for many years. The residents of the city speak of his moral character. The earthquake found him at his home.

The story of the death of the 18-month old baby girl named Marisol Piermarini is heart wrenching. Her mother had survived the 2009 L’Aquila and had moved to Amatrice with her partner.

15-year-old teenager Arianna Mascriarelli was killed in her grandparents house when the building collapsed. She was at Pescara on holidays just before school opened.

Another teenage girl, Eliza Kafini, 14, was also on holidays in Pescara with her 8-year-old cousin. Both were killed at their grandparents’ house.

Andrea Kosou loved dogs. He was living in his parental house in Pescara with his wife and two cocker spaniels. He was killed while his wife survived.

26-year-old Spanish Anna Huete had recently married her Italian partner, with whom she had opened a business in Granada. They were visiting her in-laws when she was killed in the earthquake.

Anna Grosi, 21, loved music as much as her partner Claudio Leoneti. Anna was killed in Amatrice, while rescuers saved her partner who was seriously injured under the concrete slabs.

44-year-old Nadia Manniati was found dead with her 11-year old tight in her arms by rescuers. Her husband managed to survive.

Rescue crews found Paola Raselli and her husband Fabricio Trabalza embraced under the rubble. They had visited Amatrice and celebrated Paola’s birthday. They posted some photos on Facebook just before they were killed in the room they were staying at.

One of the most moving stories was that of 8-year-old Julia Renaldo who sacrificed herself to save her 4-year-old sister. According to Daily Mail, Julia shielded her younger sister Georgia when the earthquake hit. They were visiting their grandparents’ house in Amatrice. Georgia was pulled out of the rubble unscathed.