A woman has died and about ten people are missing on the Italian island of Ischia, in the Gulf of Naples, after heavy rains caused a landslide on Saturday (26).
“One person has been confirmed dead, a woman. Eight people have been found, including a child, and there are still around 10 others missing,” Naples Mayor Claudio Palomba said in an interview.
Torrential rain hit the port of Casamicciola Terme, one of the island’s six small towns, early on Saturday, triggering flooding, collapsing buildings and landslides that swept away trees and vehicles.
Seventy firefighters are working on the rescue, the fire department said on Twitter. But there are still difficulties in operations because weather conditions are not stable, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told reporters in Rome.
Earlier, there was confusion over the death toll in communiqués issued by two ministries. Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini even said during an event in Milan that eight people had been killed.
Ischia is a volcanic island about 30 km from Naples that attracts visitors for its thermal baths. The region is densely populated and has illegally built houses, which are at constant risk of landslides, floods and earthquakes.
In 2006, a landslide killed a father and his three daughters on the island.
Southern Italy, where buildings have been erected in uneven and unsafe areas, is susceptible to landslides such as the one that occurred in 1998 in the village of Sarno, when at least 150 people died.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was in contact with Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci and the Civil Protection Department.
“The government is grateful to the rescue teams engaged in the search for the missing,” said Meloni.
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