(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 23 - Two people died and 13 were injured, including seven children, in the collapse of a balcony of the Vela Celeste (Sky Blue Sail) building in the district of Scampia near Naples, authorities said on Tuesday.
    The victims have been identified as Roberto Abbruzzo, aged 29, and Margherita Della Ragione, 35.
    Health officials at the Santobono hospital in Naples said two of the children injured in the incident are in very serious condition.
    The two kids, aged seven and four, are critically ill due to multiple head injuries.
    They are being treated in the intensive care unit of the Santobono.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday said she was "pained" by the incident, which took place overnight.
    "In this hour of pain, my condolences go to the victims' families together with a thought of closeness for the wounded and their dear ones", the prime minister wrote on social media, thanking firefighters for their "prompt" intervention and "those who are cooperating in rescue operations".
    Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi announced a day of mourning on the day of the victims' funeral Meanwhile, prosecutors have opened an investigation into the collapse.
    Naples State attorneys are waiting for the first technical results of inspections following the collapse, investigative sources said.
    The 800 residents - including 300 children - of the Vela Celeste (Sky Blue Sail) building where the collapse took place were evacuated and the civil protection set up tents to aid the evacuees.
    On Tuesday afternoon, authorities said 66 apartments for some 300 residents would be reopened by the evening, following a meeting at the prefecture of Naples.
    Alternative solutions were found for the other 500 residents while inspections were being carried out on their lodgings to evaluate their safety, the officials said.
    Earlier on Tuesday, dozens of evacuees occupied parts of the Federico II University near their apartment building to demand safe lodgings, said members of the 'Sails of Scampia' committee which has been active in the district for years to demand better housing conditions.
    "We demand a fast solution to this emergency", they said.
    The building where the collapse took place was one of the last three 'Sails' left in Scampia and the only one set to remain.
    The other 'Sails' apartment buildings have been torn down over their state of decay in the crime-ridden district.
    A 'restyling' of the area, which is trying to make a civic comeback after years of being identified with the Camorra mafia and drug pushing, has started and the municipal administration announced in April renovation work on the 'Sky Blue Sail' to be funded under the Piano Periferie (suburbs plan) with some 18 million euros.
    Overall, the revamp of the area with the construction of 433 new lodgings and new public spaces including a park will be funded with resources worth 159 million euros.
    The project regarding the building affected by the collapse focused on several areas as part of a plan to renovate the only 'Sail' that will be left in the neighborhood as a symbol of the past.
    The seven 'Sails' were originally built between 1962 and 1975 under a project by Franz Di Salvo aimed at creating common areas and playgrounds to help residents socialize - spaces that were never built, contributing to the failure of the plan as it was originally conceived.
    Over the years, the apartment buildings became a symbol of decay, crime and drug trafficking The 'Sails' were an iconic backdrop in the hit Camorra TV show Gomorra (Gomorrah), based on Roberto Saviano's expose' of the same name which earned the anti-mafia writer death threats that forced him into a police protection program. (ANSA).