The first victim is a woman from an Eastern country and married to a citizen of Casamicciola of the landslide that occurred on the island. The body was identified and recovered in Piazza Maio, where she was overwhelmed by mud. It is one of the first areas hit by rescuers. This was reported by law enforcement sources. Her identity is not yet known.
A river of mud and debris it hit Casamicciola, a town on the island of Ischia, this morning around 5 am. At the moment, a dozen are missing, the damage is enormous.
“There are eight confirmed dead”, informs the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini but the prefect of Naples Palomba is cautious.
”At the moment there is news of a victim, certainly confirmed, and there are still a dozen missing”, says the mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi.
“The situation is very complicatedthese are people who are probably under the mud, who don’t answer the calls”, says the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, on Tg2, answering from the operations room of the fire brigade, from where he is following the rescue operations for the landslide in Casamicciola “The prefecture together with the Region is arranging the evacuation of about 200 people, for the shelter of the people affected by the landslide, who must be saved”, said the Minister of the Interior.
A family with a newborn, initially lost, has been found: they are all safe and will resort to medical care. The landslide came down, at the very first light of dawn, from the mountain behind the hamlet of the island, as happened in November 2009, and dragged boulders and debris that caused the collapse of at least 10 buildings. There are about 30 isolated families, a total of 100 people who have yet to be reached and who are without water and electricity. The road leading to their homes is currently impassable due to mud.
Bad weather on the island of Ischia, landslide in Casamicciola
Just the adverse weather conditions are making it even more complex rescue operations in light of the sea force 11 which is slowing down the arrival of men and equipment from Naples and Pozzuoli: for this reason Defense Minister Crosetto has announced the contribution of the armed forces to the relief efforts. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Minister for Civil Protection Nello Musumeci and the head of the Department of Civil Protection Fabrizio Curcio are in constant contact to follow the evolution of the situation as well as the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, via video link from the Center National Operations of the Fire Brigade. “Difficult relief. It is an evolving, very serious situation that needs to be followed”, commented the number one of the Viminale. A summit is underway in the prefecture in Naples with, in addition to Curcio, also the ministers Sangiuliano and Tajani.
The mayors of the Green Island invite citizens not to move and to stay in their homes. The doctors who were on duty this morning at the Rizzoli hospital in Ischia remained on duty. The medical residents of the island also arrived to provide aid to the injured in the Casamicciola landslide. Many testimonies from the island. “Around midnight it started to rain heavily – says Lisa Mocciaro, illustrator of children’s books, now a prisoner in the house on the third floor of the house in Casamicciola -. From three o’clock we began to hear roars. The first landslide came down, then another around 5. An impressive thing, perhaps worse than the 2009 flood and as terrible as the 2017 earthquake”. The controversy over the fragility of the territory due to “too many tragedies”, as Minister Tajani recalls. In the last sixteen years, the area affected today has been the scene of two landslides and an earthquake.
Landslide and missing in Ischia
Source: Ansa
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