Italy’s top story on Friday:

Death toll from hydroelectric plant explosion rises to six

The death toll from a hydroelectric plant blast in Italy rose to six on Thursday, as rescuers found another three bodies, AFP reported.

Around 100 firefighters, including 12 divers, remained on site at the Enel Green Power power plant in Suviana, Bologna as the search continued for another missing person, fire service spokesman Luca Cari told AFP.

Bologna’s Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the cause of the disaster, and is reportedly considering bringing manslaughter charges.

The incident raised further questions about workplace accidents in Italy following a building collapse that killed five construction workers in Florence in February. Unions on Thursday called a strike to draw attention to the issue of worker safety.

21-year-old Italian-Egyptian arrested in Aosta killing

Police have arrested a man suspected of killing a 22-year-old French woman in Italy’s northern Valle d’Aosta region, Italian media reported on Thursday.

21-year-old Sohaib Teima was born in Fermo, Marche to Egyptian parents but had been living in southeastern France. He was stopped by police in Lyon after a multi-day manhunt.

The suspect had been due to appear before Grenoble’s criminal court on May 3rd on charges related to domestic violence and threats against the victim, according to reports in French news outlets.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Aosta prosecutor Luca Ceccanti described the murder as a “classic femicide” that was motivated not by jealousy or passion but a “desire for possession”.

Orphaned bear cubs emerge from hibernation

The endangered cubs of a bear that was killed last August have emerged from hibernation unscathed after months of careful monitoring by technicians and park rangers, Italian news outlets reported on Thursday.

The killing of Amarena, a Marsicano Brown Bear whose species is at risk of extinction, sparked a controversy after an autopsy indicated that she had posed no threat to the homeowner who shot her.

The question of how to manage Italy’s ‘rewilded’ bear population has divided public opinion in recent years, following the killing of a 26-year-old jogger in the village of Caldes last April and an attack on another hiker in the same area weeks earlier.

Last month, animal rights groups called on European institutions to protect the bear population in the northern province of Trento after local authorities authorised the culling of up to eight “problematic” bears a year in 2024 and 2025.