After a tornado struck the Mediterranean Italian island of Pantelleria, two people were killed and nine injured, leaving a road of damage. At least six automobiles were torn off to the rooftops and residents called the scene ‘apocalyptic.’
According to the officials, four out of nine injured people are seriously affected. Initially, a hospital helicopter from the adjacent island of Lampedusa could not reach the island to assist due to the severe weather.
According to Italy’s civil protection office, the deaths include a duty firefighter who was driving his car when it got caught in the unforgiving weather
Testimonies indicate that the tornado in seconds ruptured a seaside road.
“When the cars were on scene, sadly the drivers were already dead. They’ve been overturned. Nothing had to be done. One body was blown on a wall by the wind, the other was on the ground.”
Vincenzo Campo, mayor of Pantelleria, said, “We’re still trying to figure out what happened.
The Italian newspaper la Repubblica told the website that “It was an awful scene,” a non-named paramedic. “There are two verified deaths at the present but there are still searches and we ensure that they are not missing. The tornado came off the sea, and rubbed homes and cars along the seaside road in a couple of seconds.”
Social network photographs show cars littered against homes, other vehicles that are severely damaged or flooded, and streets flooded.
Once a giant volcano and a host of tourists every year, including Sting and Giorgio Armani, who owns a luxury property, the Pantelleria, known as the black perl of the Mediterranean, is famous for its hot spring.
