ROME

Italian emergency teams succeeded late Monday in extracting alive a worker trapped for hours under rubble following partial collapses of a medieval tower in central Rome which is at a walking distance from the Colosseum.

Local authorities said the worker's condition was "serious" but added that he was still conscious when he was pulled out of the rubble by a small team of firefighters who operated on a telescopic aerial ladder, lowering the man into an ambulance on a stretcher.

Rome Prefect Lamberto Giannini told reporters at the scene that the rescue operation lasted a long time because debris from additional collapses kept covering the man's body.

Three other people at work in the Torrei dei Conti were rescued alive by firefighters, who immediately rushed to the scene Monday morning with three emergency teams and mobile ladder trucks.

Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli praised the whole rescue operation as "exemplary."

Earlier Monday, another rescued worker had been hospitalized in serious but not life-threatening condition, while two others suffered minor injuries.

Police had cordoned off the area overlooking Rome’s central Via dei Fori Imperiali, which was crowded with hundreds of tourists and onlookers.

The first massive collapse happened around 11.30 am local time (1030GMT) and was followed by a second one about an hour and half later as rescuers were already at work. Some of them were involved in the second collapse, which forced rescuers to temporarily halt operations using a mobile ladder, TV images showed. Firefighters said the rescue team was unharmed.

Local officials confirmed that one of the workers had been trapped under the rubble but was responsive and communicated with rescuers.

The Torre dei Conti, commissioned in 1238 by Pope Innocent III and built by his brother, Richard Conti, as a fortified residence for their family, was undergoing renovation work after years of abandonment. Rome’s prosecutors have opened a probe into the collapse, Italian media reported.

The 29-meter (95-feet) high tower is located close to the Colosseum, one of the Eternal City's most famous attractions, halfway along the usually tourist-crowded Via dei Fori Imperiali.

The medieval building was originally twice as high, but its height was reduced after being damaged by earthquakes in the 14th and 17th centuries.

The tower was currently involved in a EU-funded four-year renovation project expected to end next year, according to local authorities.