Now quicker European access

Italy declares state of emergency; mudslide toll rises

May 8, 1998
Web posted at: 12:03 p.m. EDT (1603 GMT)

In this story:

• Hopes fade for finding survivors
• Related stories and sites

SARNO, Italy (CNN) -- The death toll in mudslides that have buried parts of southern Italy kept rising on Friday as the government declared a state of emergency in three provinces to help local officials deal with one of the country's worst natural disasters in years.

Rescuers pulled more bodies from homes and cars engulfed by fast-moving mud but still had not reached some isolated areas days after the disaster that killed about 90 people.

Francesca Costa of the Italian Red Cross comments on the situation
	322K/30 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Streets turned into rivers in southern Italy
	2.0MB/19 sec./320x240 565K/19 sec./160x120 QuickTime movie
CNN's Gayle Young reports VXtreme streaming video (2:34)

Italy's civil defense agency has reported widely fluctuating numbers of missing. The latest count was more than 100, but officials in Sarno, the hardest-hit town, said twice that number were missing in their town alone.

At least 1,500 people were homeless.

The deaths and damage followed torrential rain earlier in the week. Topsoil swept off mountains across a heavily populated area south and east of Naples created rivers of mud that destroyed houses, stripped buildings of their contents and buried whole families.

Other developments

• Rescue teams, soldiers and volunteers with mechanical diggers shoveled through ruins in the slim hope of finding signs of life. Health officials worry that unburied bodies could lead to the spread of disease.

Specially-trained dogs also have been brought in to sniff out victims, though officials admitted that as time passed the likelihood of finding survivors was dimming.

• Some Sarno residents used ladders to rise above the mud and enter the upper floors of their homes. They later left with possessions bundled in bedsheets.

• Police patrolled the region during the night to prevent looting. Eight people have been arrested.

• In Quindici, a small town 80 miles east of Naples, some cars remained buried under mud, making it impossible to tell if any bodies were inside.

• A 15-vehicle convoy from the U.S. Naval Support Activity base in Naples was carrying emergency equipment to help with rescue efforts, a Navy spokesman said. The group of 40 U.S. Navy engineers arrived in Lauro, near Quindici, to build a tent city for Italian rescuers.

• The Italian government's state of emergency for three southern provinces in southern Italy was declared during a Cabinet meeting which also slated $30 million to help relief and reconstruction efforts.

Rome Bureau Chief Gayle Young, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• More bodies recovered from southern Italian mudslides - May 7, 1998
• Dozens feared buried in Italian tide of mud - May 6, 1998
• Deadly rivers of mud flow through southern Italy - May 6, 1998

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Italy on the Net
• Windows On Italy

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

---

 

---

Sound off on our message boards & chat

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.