A police officer checks a stranded car after a deadly landslide on Ischia island's port town of Casamicciola November 10, 2009. The town's mayor said that a 15 year old girl swept out to sea in a bus had died, and an 11 year old girl was missing after mud and rocks poured down the slopes of the volcanic Mount Epomeo.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    ROME, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- A landslide hitting Italy's port town in southern island of Ischia on Tuesday has left at least one dead and 20 injured, according to the town's mayor Vincenzo D'Ambrosio.

    The mayor said the landslide was "like the end of the world" when houses, cars and people were dragged out to the sea by the water and a river of dirt and rocks flooded the entire area.

    Local authorities have so far confirmed one death, that of a 15-year-old girl dragged out to sea in a bus by mud pouring down the slopes of Mount Epomeo, the island's volcanic peak.

    According to the civil protection department, over 20 survivors have been pulled from the mud so far with bruises and broken bones, including a small child said to be in serious condition.

    One woman was dragged into the sea by the mudslides, where a coast guard patrol was able to rescue her, while an 11-year old girl is still missing.

    Local authorities said all roads connecting the area with the rest of the island have been cut off, forcing rescue workers to evacuate residents by sea.

A family passes a stranded car after a deadly landslide on Ischia island's port town of Casamicciola November 10, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    It is still too soon to have a precise balance of the damage, but the impact of the landslide was strong. At least 50 cars are said to have been buried under the mud or washed into the sea.

    This is the second fatal landslide to hit the Bay of Naples island in three years, after one in 2006 which killed four people and left over 250 homeless.

    It is also the second disaster of the kind to strike Italy this year, after flooding and mudslides in October killed 37 people in the Sicilian town of Messina and forced 700 more to leave their homes.

Mud covers the port area after a deadly landslide on Ischia island's main town of Casamicciola November 10, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Following the Messina mudslides, civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso called for a nationwide strategic plan to safeguard areas at risk of natural calamities, accusing human negligence.

    Bertolaso said that illegal building and inadequate flood prevention measures bore much of the blame for the high death toll.

    His appeal was later backed by President Giorgio Napolitano, who warned that failure to upgrade the country's infrastructure would result in more deaths in the future.