Rescuers believe they have found more bodies buried deep in the rubble of the ruined town of Amatrice, five days after a devastating earthquake struck central Italy, killing at least 290 people.

Residents of the hill town estimated that up to 10 people were still missing and emergency services said they had located three corpses in Amatrice’s Hotel Roma, which, like much of the historic centre, was wrecked by Wednesday’s quake.

Deputy Mayor Gianluca Carloni said his uncle’s body had still not been recovered from the hotel, which was particularly busy at this time of year because of a food festival.

The news comes as a prosecutor investigating the disaster said shoddy, price–cutting renovations, which were in breach of local building regulations, could be partly to blame for the high death toll.

As questions mount over the deaths, prosecutor Giuseppe Saieva indicated that property owners who commissioned suspected sub–standard work could be held responsible for contributing to the quake’s deadly impact.

https://twitter.com/MKWilliamsRome/status/769890137677373440

Meanwhile museums across Italy donated proceeds from their ticket sales on Sunday to help the rebuilding effort, while top flight soccer teams held a minute’s silence before their weekend matches out of respect for the victims.  A movement is growing for restaurants around the world to donate money for every pasta dish sold.

Pope Francis led prayers for the dead in his weekly address in St Peter’s Square in Rome, saying he wanted to go to the earthquake zone to bring comfort to the survivors.

Firefighters recover a crucifix from a damaged church in Rio, 10 kms away from Amatrice. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty

Priests in the quake zone held their regular Sunday services in large tents.

Amatrice’s municipal website said the town had 100 churches, but every one was damaged by the disaster and many would have to be demolished.

With aftershocks continuing to rattle the region, including a magnitude 4.4 quake centred on the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno, residents were still struggling to absorb the disaster.

“It took me 20 years to get my house, and then, in just 10 seconds, it was gone, like so many others,” said Ascenzio Attenni, who lived in the hamlet of Sant’Angelo outside Amatrice, where eight people died.

Rescue operations in most of the area were halted two days ago, but teams were still combing Amatrice, which is 105 km east of Rome.

The fire service said it was trying to remove some of the fallen masonry at the Hotel Roma and create a safe path to retrieve the three bodies as soon as possible.

The Civil Protection Department lowered the official death toll on Sunday to 290 from a previously given 291.

Italy has promised to rebuild the shattered communities and has said it will learn from the mistakes following a similar earthquake in the nearby city of L’Aquila in 2009, where much of the centre is still out of bounds.

– Iona Serrapica and Miran Jelenek with agencies