Another deadly earthquake hits northern Italy

 Heartbreaking video of dog who won't leave master's coffin after Italy earthquake 

 An earthquake killed at least 15 people in northern Italy, damaging buildings and spreading panic among thousands of residents still living in tents after a tremor in the same region destroyed their homes just over a week ago. Picture: EPA/MAURIZIO DEGL'INNOCENTI

 Officials said several people were trapped under the rubble of houses and warehouses in the Emilia-Romagna region, where several building sites and workshops had just reopened after the previous quake on May 20.
Picture: Pierre Teyssot/AFP/GettyImages

 Civil protection officials said 15 people were confirmed dead. Seven people were killed in the May 20 quake that, like Tuesday's, had its epicentre not far from the city of Modena.
Picture: Pierre Teyssot/AFP/GettyImages

 The 5.8-magnitude quake was felt across northern and central Italy, including in the most populous northern city Milan. The area was hit by several large aftershocks, one of 5.6 magnitude.
Picture: Luca Bruno/AP

 Several victims were workers crushed when factories collapsed, while a parish priest in the town of Rovereto di Novi was killed by a falling beam, reportedly after he went back into his church to save a Madonna statue.
Picture: Marco Vasini/AP

 Firemen carry a coffin in Mirandola
Picture: EPA/CARLO FERRARO

 Muslim workers pray after colleagues were killed during an earthquake at a factory in Mirandola
Picture: ALBERTO LINGRIA/AFP/GettyImages

 A drawing is seen on a wall inside a destroyed house in Cavezzo
Picture: Marco Vasini/Ap

 People walk past a collapsed building, after an earthquake, in Cavezzo
Picture: REUTERS/Giorgio Benvenuti

 A damaged building is seen in Cavezzo, near Modena
Picture: REUTERS/Giorgio Benvenuti

An earthquake-damaged building is seen in Cavezzo
Picture: ALBERTO LINGRIA/AFP/GettyImages

A woman is comforted by policemen in Mirandola
Picture: Pierre Teyssot/AFP/GettyImages

An Italian policeman helps a woman and her baby during an earth tremor in Mirandola
Picture: Marco Vasini/AP

People are evacuated from their homes in Mirandola
Picture: Marco Vasini/AP

People wait outside a hospital after an earthquake in Crevalcore near Modena
Picture: REUTERS/Giorgio Benvenuti

Rescue workers attend to an injured person in Mirandola
Picture: Pierre Teyssot/AFP/GettyImages

Mr Borghi, who lost his son in the building, embraces his wife in front of the destroyed BBG industrial mouldings factory in Mirandola
Picture: Luca Bruno/AP

A man walks in front of a collapsed church in Mirandola
Picture: Marco Vasini/AP

The collapsed San Francesco church is seen in Mirandola
Picture: Luca Bruno/AP

The church of San Giacomo Roncole in Mirandola is damaged after an earthquake
Picture: Pierre Teyssot/AFP/GettyImages

A firefighter stands next to a damaged warehouse in Medolle
Picture: REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

A man looks at a collapsed farm in Camposanto
Picture: Luca Bruno/AP

Firefighters are seen amidst rubble as they search for missing people at the Emotronic factory in Medolle
Picture: EPA/ELISABETTA BARACCHI

The cathedral clock lies in a pile of rubble after an earthquake in Mirandola
Picture: EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

Coffins of some of the victims of the earthquake in central Italy are seen inside a gym in Ascoli Piceno. Credit: Reuters

The village has been razed to the ground – cars have been crushed by pieces of masonry, houses have crumbled into dust and personal possessions lie scattered amid the debris.

His funeral was held on Friday in Pomezia, the town south of Rome where he lived.

“The two of them were inseparable,” relatives told the Italian media.

The picture was a striking reminder of the bonds between man’s best friend and their owners – a connection epitomised by the story of Greyfriars Bobby, the Victorian dog that held a 14-year vigil at the grave of his master in Edinburgh.

The Skye terrier could not bear to leave his master's body and remained by his grave from 1858 to 1872. His owner was said to be John Gray, a local policeman.

The dog is commemorated in Edinburgh with a life-size statue.

Mourners grieve beside the coffins in the gym in Ascoli after the earthquake. Credit: Reuters

Mr Cossu, originally from Sardinia, was one of dozens of victims who lived in and around Rome but who had come to the mountains for a summer holiday.

Flash will now be looked after by Mr Cossu’s wife, who survived the quake.

Dozens of survivors owe their lives to the police and fire service sniffer dogs who were deployed within hours of the quake striking on Wednesday.

The dogs, among them Labradors and Alsatians, scoured the piles of rubble in search of signs of life underneath, closely watched by their handlers.

A picture of canine devotion, a Cocker Spaniel stands loyally by the coffin of his owner, one of the 290 people killed in Italy’s earthquake.

The dog, called Flash, refused to leave the spot, repeatedly pawing at the casket that held the body of his master.

It was yet another touching image to emerge from a natural disaster that has left so much heartache and grief.

Flash’s owner was Andrea Cossu, 45, who was on holiday in the village of Pescara del Tronto when he was killed by a collapsing building.