Italian court blames 2009 earthquake victims for their 'own deaths'

An Italian court in a bizarre observation ruled that some of the people who lost their lives in the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake were partly to blame for their own deaths.

The court was reportedly hearing a civil suit over compensation for the victim's relatives when it gave the shocking ruling.

The judge while giving the verdict in the case file by relatives of 24 people who died in the quake said that the victims had gone back to bed despite two tremors earlier that night.

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake which struck L'Aquila on April 6 at 3:32 am (local time), reduced its elegant medieval, Renaissance and Baroque squares and buildings to rubble.

The quake reportedly followed months of tremors across Abruzzo region in central Italy.

The earthquake killed 309 people while leaving 1,600 people injured and at least 80,000 homeless.

Also watch: Watch: spine-chilling moments of Taiwan earthquake and its aftermath