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Italy: Two missing, feared dead in landslide

August 28, 2024

A landslide triggered by torrential rains has hit a southern Italian town near the city of Naples. Many residents were forced to evacuate, and a search is underway for a woman and her adult son who are feared dead.

https://p.dw.com/p/4jzeA
A digger at work at night moving debris
The landslide in San Felice a Cancello caused considerable devastationImage: Paolo Manzo/NurPhoto/Imago Images

Rescuers in southern Italy on Wednesday were searching for a woman and her adult son after their three-wheeler was overwhelmed by a landslide in the town of San Felice a Cancello, about 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) northeast of Naples.

Several other residents in the town were evacuated on Tuesday afternoon as cellars and garages were filled by a cascade of mud and rubble flowing down from a nearby hill deforested by a wildfire in early August.

Cars and motor scooters were also torn along by the mud and water flooding the streets.

Little hope of rescue

The search for the two missing persons began after emergency services found the mangled wreck of their three-wheeler in the mud.

"We hope that they jumped out ... and may still be alive somewhere, but from what the experts tell me, there isn't a lot of hope," local mayor Emilio Nuzzo told Italian media.

The fire brigade said on X, formerly Twitter, that 10 search teams had been deployed to find the pair, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 40s.

Nearby areas in the region also experienced torrential rainfall that caused severe disruption amid temperatures often exceeding 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Other parts of Italy also suffered severe weather on Tuesday, with violent thunderstorms and hail in the Milan and Como areas and at the Tuscan seaside.

Climate scientists say that extreme weather events are becoming more and more frequent as the Earth warms owing to greenhouse gases released by human activity.

tj/sms (Reuters, dpa)