Italy rescuers search for a dozen missing after landslide

The rescue effort was hampered by rain and high winds, which also delayed ferries bringing reinforcements from the mainland

Italian rescuers were searching for a dozen missing people on the southern island of Ischia on November 27 after a landslide killed at least one person, as the government scheduled an emergency meeting.

A wave of mud and debris swept through the small town of Casamicciola Terme early Saturday morning, engulfing at least one house and sweeping cars down to the sea, local media and emergency services said.

Rescuers had recovered the body of a 31-year-old woman, according to Italian news agency AGI, with other local media reporting that 13 people had been injured in the incident.

About a dozen people were still unaccounted for by early Saturday evening, according to Claudio Palomba, prefect of Naples, of which the island is part.

But some people who had earlier been reported missing had since been found safe, including one family with a newborn baby, he said.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tweeted her sympathy to those affected, saying she had called an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Sunday to discuss the disaster.

"We are afraid that there might be other victims, but so far the current figure is one dead," Luca Cari, a spokesman for the fire service, told AFP.