Rescuers search for missing after Italy landslide
One dead and about a dozen people still unaccounted for
Italian rescuers were searching for a dozen missing people on the southern island of Ischia yesterday after a landslide killed at least one person, as the government scheduled an emergency meeting.
A wave of mud and debris swept through the small town of Casamicciola Terme early on Saturday morning, engulfing at least one house and sweeping cars down to the sea, media and emergency services said.
Rescuers had recovered the body of a 31-year-old woman, according to Italian news agency AGI, with other local media reporting that 13 people had been injured in the incident.
About a dozen people were still unaccounted for that evening, according to Claudio Palomba, prefect of Naples, of which the island is part.
Lost and found
But some people who had earlier been reported missing had since been found safe, including one family with a newborn baby, he said.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tweeted her sympathy to those affected, saying she had called an extraordinary cabinet meeting yesterday to discuss the disaster.
“We are afraid that there might be other victims, but so far the current figure is one dead,” Luca Cari, a spokesman for the fire service, told AFP.
The rescue effort was hampered by rain and high winds, which also delayed ferries bringing reinforcements from the mainland.
‘Trapped in mud’
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi had earlier warned there were people trapped in the mud, saying it was a “very serious” situation.
However, he denied a statement by his colleague Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister and infrastructure minister, that eight people had died, saying this had not been confirmed.
The devastation in Ischia comes just weeks after 11 people died in heavy rain and flooding in the region of Marche.