“We can confirm five deaths, according to the police on the scene,” the local civil protection unit told AFP.
According to local media reports the five dead were part of a group of approximately 15 people walking along the Raganello stream in the Pollino national park, around a dozen of whom were rescued.
A search and rescue operation is ongoing, including with the help of a helicopter, to establish whether there are any more people missing. It is not clear how many people were in the park when the stream flooded.
Earlier today this part of Calabria, near the town of Cosenza, experienced several hours of heavy rain and strong winds although conditions have now eased.
At least five people were killed in southern Italy on Monday when the waters of a raging white-water creek in a deep mountain gorge rose suddenly after a rainfall, officials said.
About a dozen people, including a child, managed to reach higher ground or were rescued, civil protection officials in the Calabria region said.
In some places, the Raganello creek, part of the Pollino national park, is at the bottom of a narrow, one-kilometer-deep gorge in the mountain and rescue workers used ropes to descend to look for survivors.
A civil protection official said it was not clear how many people were touring the creek at the time. All of the victims were believed to be Italian tourists.
