A former Bristol Rugby player has told how he was caught up in the earthquake in Italy which has left at least 150 people – including one of his team-mates – dead.

Ollie Hodge, who is from Keynsham and played for Bristol for three years from 2003, now lives and plays rugby in the central Italian city of L'Aquila.

He told the Bristol Post how he and some fellow rugby players from the L'Aquila club, who later learned of the death of their team-mate Lorenzo Sebastiani, helped with the rescue operation by carrying patients and beds from a hospital which was deemed unstable by emergency workers.

Mr Hodge fled his apartment on the outskirts of the mediaeval city after being woken by the powerful earthquake, which registered 6.3 on the Richter scale, in the early hours of Monday.

Second-row forward Mr Hodge, aged 29, described the "terrifying" and "unreal" scenes in the city centre as being "like something from a film".

More than 1,500 people are thought to have been injured in the earthquake, while tens of thousands have been left homeless.

Mr Hodge said: "Myself and a few of the boys from the club went out to the hospital to help, because the buildings were unstable and they had to evacuate everyone.

"We were carrying beds down the stairs and carrying people out of there.

"You just do what you can in a situation like that, and it still hasn't sunk in yet.

"The scenes in the centre of town were unreal. It's like a war-zone down there; absolutely horrendous.

"It's like something from a film. Cars are crushed, and down where we would normally go for a walk and a coffee, the buildings have all crumbled.

"We wanted to go into the centre to help, but were told to leave it to the experts and get out of there, because they don't know whether any more tremors are coming or not.

"I don't know how lucky I am, and thank God I am fine.

"I was absolutely terrified when I was woken up by the earthquake and I just ran out of my apartment. I really didn't know what was going on at first. It's tragic."

Mr Hodge was able to return to his apartment to collect his passport, but has been told the building is no longer safe to stay in and he is already planning to return to his parents' home in Keynsham.

"I just want to go home and see my family now," he said. "I am going to go back to stay with my parents for a bit.

"What has happened has not really hit me yet but I can tell you I am devastated about Lorenzo.

"He was a lovely lad and a real up-and-coming young talent."

Mr Hodge, who began his career at Bath, joined L'Aquila from Coventry last summer and has also played for Exeter Chiefs and Cornish Pirates.

Aftershocks have continued to hit the area in the Apennine mountains. Officials estimate that between 10,000 and 15,000 buildings in L'Aquila, which has a population of 70,000 and was close to the epicentre of the quake, have been damaged.

Surrounding towns and villages have also been hit and damage to buildings has been reported as far as 70 miles away in Rome, where the historic Caracalla Baths, a Roman site now best known as the venue for the first Three Tenors concert on the eve of the 1990 World Cup final, were damaged.