ITALY MUD MAYHEM

Deadly landslide on isle off Naples

Up to a dozen people are missing and at least one person was killed when heavy rains caused a landslide on the Italian island of Ischia.

The landslide engulfed buildings, and the remains of a woman were pulled from the mud, Naples prefect Claudio Palomba told reporters.

As rain continued to pummel the island, rescuers on Saturday used small bulldozers to work their way through muck that was six to seven feet deep as they searched for victims. Reinforcements arrived by ferry, including teams of sniffer dogs to assist the search.

Shortly before dawn, torrential rain pummeled the port of Casamicciola Terme, one of six small towns on the island located around 19 miles off the coast of Naples, triggering flooding and bringing down buildings.

At least 100 people were reported stranded without electricity and water and about 70 were housed temporarily in a local gymnasium.

The island received nearly five inches of rain in six hours, the heaviest rainfall in two decades, officials said.

There was early confusion over the death toll.

Vice Premier Matteo Salvini initially said that eight people had died, but Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said hours later there had been no confirmed deaths yet.

“The situation is very complicated and very serious because probably some of those people are under the mud,” Piantedosi told state TV RAI.

Ischia is a volcanic island that draws visitors to its thermal baths and picturesque coastline.

In 2006, a landslide killed a father and his three daughters on the island.

South Italy, where houses are often built illegally in unsafe areas, is susceptible to fatal landslides. In 1998, at least 150 people were killed when mud submerged the village of Sarno.