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Wrecked vehicles on Ischia beach
Photo: Ciro De Luca / REUTERS
According to media reports, at least eight people died in a landslide on the Italian island of Ischia.
This was reported by the AGI news agency and the newspaper La Repubblica on Saturday, citing Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini.
The chairman of the right-wing Lega is also deputy head of government.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, on the other hand, said that there was currently no confirmation of fatalities.
In the morning, the news agencies Ansa and AGI reported that 13 people were missing in the town of Casamicciola Terme in the north of the island of Ischia after a landslide caused by heavy rain.
According to the information, the masses of earth buried a house and pushed several cars into the sea.
Two people could have been rescued from one of the cars.
Local authorities urged islanders to stay indoors so as not to disrupt rescue efforts.
Popular travel destination
According to the fire department, help was sent from the nearest major city of Naples, but weather conditions made it difficult to reach the island.
"The search for the missing, the evacuations and the help for people in danger continue," wrote the Office for Civil Protection in the short message service Twitter.
"Rescue efforts remain complex due to weather conditions."
The island of Ischia is a popular travel destination, also for German holidaymakers.
Casamicciola Terme, a spa town with around 8,000 inhabitants, experienced an earthquake in 2017 that killed two people.
At the end of the 19th century the town was completely destroyed by a strong earthquake.
beb/AFP