Man rescued from collapsed tunnel in Rome accused of trying to rob bank

Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A man who was rescued alive from a collapsed tunnel in Rome was allegedly trying to burrow underneath the vault of a nearby bank.

Italy's Fire Brigade said in a statement that rescuers worked for eight hours Thursday to extract the man who was buried nearly 20 feet down after part of the road Via Innocenzo XI collapsed on top of him.

"Help, I beg you to get me out," the man said from beneath the rubble, The Guardian reported while citing local media.

The man was taken to a local hospital where he is being treated with critical but non-life-threatening injuries.

The Carabinieri Police, one of the nation's main police forces, told CNN that officers arrested four people in total including two who were trying to flee the area in a car and a fourth man.

Carmine Pascarosa, a lawyer for the two men arrested in the car, said they were charged with resisting arrest and denied involvement with the man rescued from the rubble.

Pascarosa told CNN that the two men were passing through the area when a man asked them for help and took them to the entrance of the tunnel in a vacant storefront nearby. The lawyer said his clients left the scene and called rescuers.