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Rescuers recover the body of a girl after a huge avalanche on the Italian island of Ischia

2022-11-27T16:16:03.851Z


The death toll from the tragedy rose to two, after the body of a 31-year-old woman was recovered on Saturday. Another 10 people are still missing.


By Colleen Barry -

Associated Press

Rescuers recovered the body of a girl from her family home on Sunday as they dug through the mud for a second day to search for people reported missing after a massive landslide on the Italian resort island of Ischia.

The perfect from Naples confirmed that the death toll from the tragedy had risen to two, after the body of a 31-year-old woman was recovered on Saturday.

Another 10 people are still missing in the port town of Casamicciola, feared to be buried under mud and rubble.

"Mud and water tend to fill all the spaces," Italian Fire Department spokesman Luca Cari told RAI state television.

“Our teams are looking with hope, even if it is very difficult.”

Aerial view of houses damaged by an avalanche that left up to 12 people missing, after heavy rains in Casamicciola, on the Italian island of Ischia. Salvatore Laporta / AP

"Our best hope is that the people reported missing have found refuge with family and friends and have not reported their whereabouts," he added.

There was still a risk of further avalanches in the part of the city furthest up the mountain, near where heavy rains loosened a chunk of the hillside, forcing search teams to enter on foot, he said.

Small bulldozers were busy clearing roads overnight to allow rescue vehicles to pass, while diving teams went to check on cars that had been swept into the sea.

"We continue the search with a broken heart, because

among the missing there are also minors,"

Giacomo Pascale, mayor of the neighboring town of Lacco Ameno, told RAI state television.

Rescuers next to a bus swept away by one of the mudslides caused by heavy rains in Casamicciola, Ischia island. Salvatore Laporta / AP

Pope Francis expressed his closeness to the people of Ischia during the traditional Sunday blessing in Saint Peter's Square.

"I pray for the victims, for those who are suffering and for all who have come to the rescue," he said.

Claudio Palomba, prefect of Naples, said Sunday that the official number of missing was 11, while four people were injured and 160 displaced from their homes, according to the LaPresse news agency.

He noted that 15 homes had been destroyed by the mudflow.

[At least 22 dead and 52 missing after a landslide in the central region of Venezuela]

The massive landslide before dawn on Saturday was triggered by exceptional rainfall.

A mass of mud and debris plunged down the side of a mountain toward the port of Casamicciola, collapsing buildings and dragging vehicles into the sea.

As of Sunday, 164 people had been left homeless.

Widely released video showed a man, covered in mud, clinging to a blind, his chest submerged in muddy water.

Emergency work continues in Central America and Venezuela due to the rains that affected thousands of people

Oct 12, 202204:06

The island received 126 millimeters (nearly five inches) of rain in six hours, the heaviest rainfall in 20 years, according to authorities.

Experts said the disaster was compounded by construction in high-risk areas of the mountainous island.

“There is territory in which you cannot build.

You cannot change the use of an area where there is water.

The course of the water created this disaster”, said the geologist Riccardo Caniparoli to RAI.

"There are norms and laws that were not respected."

Vincenzo De Luca, president of the Campagna region, where Ischia is located, said that houses in risk areas must be demolished, suggesting they had been built without the necessary permits.

[A landslide buries a rural school with at least 20 children in Colombia]

“People have to understand that you cannot live in some areas.

There is no need (to build) illegally," De Luca told RAI.

"Buildings in fragile areas must be demolished."

The Italian government declared a state of emergency for the island during an urgent cabinet meeting on Sunday, earmarking 2 million euros for the rescue and to restore public services.

“The government expresses its closeness to the citizens, the mayors and the municipalities of the island of Ischia, and thanks the rescue workers who are looking for the victims,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-11-27

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