Tornado hits Italy’s Pantelleria island, kill two, injure nine
By Bisola Adeyemo
No fewer than two people died and nine were injured after an apocalyptic tornado hit the Sicilian island of Pantelleria on Friday evening.
Pantelleria, the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.
A windstorm hit Pantelleria, sweeping up cars and whipping down coastal roads, authorities and local media said.
The tornado killed an off-duty firefighter and an 86-year-old man who were travelling by car on Friday evening on the popular tourist spot south of Sicily.
Several images from civil protection agency showed overturned vehicles and a building hit by a car thrown in the air.
“It’s difficult to accept such a thing. It’s a huge pain,” Pantelleria mayor Vincenzo Campo wrote on Facebook.
ANSA news agency reported on Saturday that rescuers were still looking for any potential missing people while working to reopen roads damaged by the storm.