Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Nov 27: On Ischia, a tourist destination in southern Italy, a massive landslide caused by heavy rain early on Saturday morning destroyed buildings and swept parked cars into the water, leaving at least one person dead and up to 12 people missing.
The Naples prefect Claudio Palomba, told a news conference that a woman’s body had been extracted from the muck.
Rescuers were cautiously sifting through six to seven metres (yards) of mud and debris while it continued to rain, using small bulldozers, in order to look for potential victims. Teams of sniffer dog teams joined the reinforcements that arrived by ferry to aid in the search operations.
At the port of Casamicciola, on the north end of the island off the coast of Naples, the power of the mud sliding down the mountainside just before daybreak was strong enough to send cars and buses down beaches and into the water.
According to officials, the island experienced its greatest rainfall in 20 years with 126 millimetres (almost five inches) of rain falling in only six hours.
ALSO READ: 26/11 Mumbai attacks: Indian diaspora protests outside Pak high commission in London
Mayors on the island pleaded with citizens to stay inside since the streets were impassable. At least 100 people were said to be without access to water or electricity, and about 70 were staying in a community gym.
Early on, the death toll was unclear. The interior ministry then stated that no deaths were confirmed but that between 10 and 12 people were still missing after vice premier Matteo Salvini initially stated that eight people were proven deceased.
