Italy: a dozen missing after a landslide on the island of Ischia


MILAN (Reuters) – A woman has died and around 10 people are still missing after a landslide caused by torrential rains swept away several homes on the island of Ischia off the coast of Naples on Saturday, said the prefect of Naples.

“Currently, the confirmed death toll is one dead, a woman. Eight missing people have been found, including a child, and there are still a dozen missing,” Claudio Palomba told a press conference.

Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini announced on the sidelines of an event in Milan the death of eight people, before being denied by his colleague from the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi.

Matteo Piantedosi then told reporters that “at the moment there are no confirmed deaths”.

“There are difficulties in the relief operations because the weather conditions remain difficult,” he added.

Italian firefighters had previously written on Twitter that “research (was) underway to find the missing” in the town of Casamicciola Terme, in the north of Ischia, a volcanic island known in particular for its thermal baths.

Italian Council President Giorgia Meloni said she was in close contact with Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci, the Civil Protection Department and the local Campania region.

“The government expresses its solidarity with the citizens and mayors of the municipalities of the island of Ischia and thanks the rescuers engaged in the search for the missing,” she said.

Southern Italy, where homes are often built without regard to safety regulations, is prone to fatal landslides. In 1998, at least 150 people were killed when mud submerged the village of Sarno, also located not far from Naples.

In 2006, a landslide killed a father and his three daughters on the island of Ischia.

(Sara Rossi report, written by Gianluca Semeraro, French version Bertrand Boucey and Kate Entringer)



Source link -87