The search for Agnese Minieri, 74, and her son Giuseppe Guadagnino, 41, has been ongoing for 24 hours. They went missing yesterday in San Felice a Cancello , a municipality in the Caserta area hit by bad weather that caused landslides and mudslides.
Mother and son were picking hazelnuts on a plot of land in the Talanico hamlet when they were surprised by a sudden storm. They tried to quickly return home on board their Ape car but were swept away by the river of mud generated by a landslide.
The vehicle has been found, but after a full day of searching there is still no trace of the two occupants. Five firefighter teams are engaged in the search and rescue operations, the work continues on the ground with excavators, a dog unit, river flood rescuers and experts in topography, while from above they proceed with drones equipped with thermal cameras and with the support of a helicopter. So far, however, there is no trace of Agnese and Giuseppe.
“The absolute priority at this time is to find the missing,” said the mayor of San Felice a Cancello, Emilio Nuzzo, at the end of a summit at the town hall with the head of the Campania Civil Protection, Italo Giulivo, the prefect of Caserta Giuseppe Castaldo and the police forces involved in the rescue operations.
In parallel with the search for the missing, Nuzzo explained, "we need to work to restore normality in the country" also in light of the new weather alert issued by the regional Civil Protection, in force from 14 pm until midnight.
A reception center has been activated to host citizens in the event of an emergency evacuation, explained Prefect Castaldo. In the meantime, the Municipality of San Felice a Cancello has forwarded a request for a state of natural disaster to the Prefecture, Region, Province and the Department of Civil Protection, "taking into account - as stated in the document - that the serious emergency situation, due to its intensity and extension, cannot be addressed with the ordinary means and powers available to the Municipality of San Felice a Cancello".
The mayor specifically asks for “the activation of regional and state resources to be allocated, aimed at restoring, in safe conditions, damaged public or public interest structures and infrastructures”. At the end of the summit at the Municipality, Nuzzo explained that “we need a shock intervention on maintenance, but we won’t get anywhere on our own. We want to work with the Campania Region to make it clear that municipalities like ours, in hydrogeological distress, must be treated differently”.
