Rescuers were searching for at least a dozen people early Saturday after heavy rains caused a landslide to engulf buildings on the southern Italian holiday island of Ischia.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said no death has been confirmed, shooting down earlier remarks by Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini that eight people had been killed.
“At the moment there are no confirmed deaths, there are some difficulties in the rescue operations because the weather conditions are still challenging,” Piantedosi told reporters in Rome.
The Associated Press reported as many as 12 were missing.
Torrential rain pummeled the port of Casamicciola Terme, one of the six small towns on the island, early Saturday, triggering flooding and bringing down buildings. At least 100 people were reported stranded.
Images showed thick mud, debris, and stones in Casamicciola Terme. At least 10 buildings collapsed, according to the news outlet ANSA.
Ischia is a volcanic island 19 miles from Naples that draws visitors to its thermal baths and picturesque coastline.
In 2006 a landslide killed a father and his three daughters on the island.
The south of 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.
With Post wires
