Sicily storms may have killed 50, Berlusconi

The death toll from rainstorms and landslides in Sicily rose to 20 today and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the number of victims could more than double as 30 people were still missing.

Rescue workers dug through mud around Messina where landslides followed Thursday's heavy rain, destroying houses and washing away roads, but hopes of finding more survivors fell by the hour. Eighty people were injured and hundreds left homeless.

"In the end there'll be at least 50 dead," Berlusconi told reporters in the early hours of today.

Rescue services chief Guido Bertolaso said yesterday the impact of the rain and mud was made much worse by shoddy building in the region.

"Messina, a foretold tragedy" was the front-page headline in La Repubblica newspaper, with most Italian media questioning why houses had been built so close to river beds and the seafront in an area already hit by landslides two years ago.

"I saw a very dangerous situation here in Messina, disasters like this one or worse are just around the corner," Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo told La Stampa, lamenting that her ministry did not have the funds to deal with the situation.

Unregulated building is common in Italy, particularly in the centre and south. In April, an earthquake in the city of L'Aquila killed 300 people, and authorities said then that poor building standards were to blame for the high death toll.