Italian rescuers search for missing in island landslide

MILAN >> Rescuers dug through mud and debris for a second day on Sunday in the search for people believed lost in an enormous landslide tore through a port town on the Italian resort island of Ischia.

One body was recovered on Saturday and two families with children remained among the 11 missing in the port town of Casamicciola, feared buried under mud and debris that firefighters said was six meters (20 feet) deep in some places.

“Mud and water tend to fill every space,” the spokesman for Italian firefighter, Luca Cari, told RAI state TV. “Our teams are searching with hope, even if it is very difficult.”

“Our biggest hope is that people identified as missing have found refuge with relatives and friends and have not advised of their position,” he added.

The risks of landslides remained in the part of town furthest up the mountain, near where heavy rainfall loosened a chunk of mountainside, requiring search teams to enter by foot, he said.

Small bulldozers focused on clearing roads overnight to allow rescue vehicles to pass, while dive teams were brought in to check cars that had been pushed into the sea.

“We are continuing the search with our hearts broken, because among the missing are also minors,” Giacomo Pascale, the mayor of the neighboring town of Lacco Ameno, told RAI.

Pope Francis expressed his closeness to the people of Ischia during the traditional Sunday blessing in St. Peter’s Square. “I am praying for the victims, for those who are suffering and for those who are involved in the rescue,” he said.

The Naples prefect, Claudio Palomba, on Sunday said the official number of missing was 11, while four people had been injured and 160 displaced from their homes, according to the LaPresse news agency. He said 15 homes had been overwhelmed by the stream of mud.

The massive landslide before dawn on Saturday was triggered by exceptional rainfall, and sent a mass of mud and debris hurtling down a mountainside toward the port of Casamicciola, collapsing buildings and sweeping vehicles into the sea. By Sunday, 164 people were left homeless by the events.

One widely circulated video showed a man, covered with mud, clinging to a shutter, chest-deep in muddy water.

The island received 126 millimeters (nearly five inches) of rain in six hours, the heaviest rainfall in 20 years, according to officials. Experts said the disaster was exacerbated by building in areas of high risk on the mountainous island.

“There is territory that cannot be occupied. You cannot change the use of a zone where there is water. The course of the water created this disaster,” geologist Riccardo Caniparoli told RAI. “There are norms and laws that were not respected.”

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

“People need to understand that you cannot live in some areas. There is no such thing as the necessity (to build) illegally,” De Luca told RAI. “Buildings in fragile zones should be demolished.”

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

“The government expresses its closeness to the citizens, mayors and towns of the island of Ischia, and thanks the rescue workers searching for the victims,” Premier Giorgia Meloni said in a statement.

The island previously suffered a 4.0-magnitude earthquake in 2017 that killed two and injured more than 40 in Casamicciola and Lacco Ameno.