No students or staff found under the rubble.

The Aula Magna lecture hall at the University of Cagliari, on the Italian island of Sardinia, collapsed on Tuesday night, a couple of hours after students attended lectures there.

The sudden collapse of the two-storey structure occurred shortly before 22.00, not long after students left the nearby library, according to Italian news reports.

Several teams of firefighters worked late into the night searching for people buried under the rubble, assisted by dogs and drones, however there are no reports of injuries or casualties.

#Cagliari, in corso dalle 21.55 un intervento dei #vigilidelfuoco per il crollo dell’aula magna nell'università in via Trentino. Al momento non si ha alcuna segnalazione di persone coinvolte, sono in corso ricerche per escludere ogni possibilità [#18ottobre 23:00] pic.twitter.com/8ELNGHIUfJ— Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) October 18, 2022

"The images are shocking, it could have happened a few hours ago and a massacre would have occurred" - Cagliari mayor Paolo Truzzu told reporters at the site of the collapse - "The Lord has spared us".

In a post on social media, the student association Reset UniCa wrote: "We are astonished, frightened, speechless, over what has happened and what could have happened."

#Cagliari, crollo Università: prosegue l’intervento dei #vigilidelfuoco per escludere la presenza di persone coinvolte. Nessun segnale rilevato dalle squadre dopo le prime verifiche, confermata l’indicazione della chiusura dell’aula magna all’ora del crollo [#19ottobre 00:15] pic.twitter.com/2I8Fxh0fJS— Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) October 18, 2022

Students have organised a demonstration at 10.30 on Wednesday morning outside the university's Rectorate to protest "for the right to study without the risk of dying crushed by rubble while we are at lessons."

Founded in 1606, the university is organised into 11 faculties and has a student body of more than 30,000.