Rescuers tunnel towards Alpine survivor

GONDO, Switzerland -- Rescuers are continuing their attempts to reach a lone survivor buried for two days under debris, after rocks and mud tore through the Alpine village of Gondo.

They are digging a tunnel towards the survivor, believed to be a woman, whose voice has been heard from under two metres (six feet) of rubble left by the slide that tore a path through the centre of Gondo, Switzerland, on Saturday morning.

Floods and landslides have so far killed at least 15 people in Europe's southern Alpine region.

VIDEO CNN's Glenn Van Zutphen reports on the floods Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    GALLERY Images of the floods

Dozens more are still missing including at least 11 buried under the mudslide in Gondo.

Three people have been confirmed dead in Switzerland, including a 70-year-old woman found downstream from her home near the village of Stalden. Twelve people have been confirmed dead across the border in northwestern Italy.

Rescue crews were led by sniffer dogs to the woman in Gondo on Monday. The woman's faint cries for help and knocking sounds urged on the rescue teams, who used their bare hands, saws and heavy equipment to move the debris.

"We have only heard echoes of her voice and tapping," rescue worker Alfred Squaratti said. "Every step in the debris has to be careful and the risk remains very high."

There was no sign of any other survivors, he said. Rescue dogs found four places where bodies might be buried.

A total of 28 people are missing across southern Switzerland and northern Italy, where days of torrential rains loosened rocks and mud and flooded rivers.

Rescue work has been hampered by the risk of further landslides, and four people have been stationed on the roofs of Gondo's remaining houses to watch the mountainside that overhangs the village.

"We never lose hope," said Franziskus Escher, head of the Valais canton crisis unit.

Escher said the authorities remained on alert. Several thousand people were evacuated from their homes over the weekend, and about 7,000 fire service workers and 100 troops helped in the operation.

The Rhone river has receded as the rain eased, but parts of southern Valais are still cut off by road, and many rail links are expected to remain closed for several days.

The main square in the Swiss lakeside town of Locarno has been flooded, and 1,000 people have left their homes.

On the other side of the Alps, Lake Maggiore is at its highest level in a century. Rain persists across much of the northern Italy, forcing more evacuations, snarling traffic and cutting off phone and rail lines.

Most of the deaths were in Valle d'Aosta, where work crews found five bodies on Monday afternoon in the swirls of mud and debris. The northwest regions of Piedmont and Liguria also logged dead and missing. The youngest victim was a seven-year-old girl swept away near a camp outside Turin.

In Turin, regional capital of Piedmont, the Dora Baltea river burst its banks, flooding main streets with 20 inches of water and mud.

Most of Turin's 29 bridges were closed on Monday, and at least 250 people were forced from their homes. The Caselle airport was temporarily shut down, and about 6,000 workers stayed home as FIAT kept two factories closed.

Alpine floods claim seven lives
October 16, 2000

Italian landslides

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