Flash flooding in Italy has taken the life of 11 hikers who were taking a walk in a national park in the Calabria region. Reports state that several others are missing.
The flash flood occurred when a white-water creek in a deep mountain gorge swelled suddenly after heavy rainfall upstream.
Rescuers saved 18 others, including a 10-year-old boy and six people have been taken to the hospital, the BBC said.
Carlo Tansi, head of civil protection, told reporters that when the hikers were hit by the water they were "catapulted out like bullets" and were washed down the valley for about 3km (two miles).
"The Raganello Gorge is narrow and tall, it can get up to 1km (3,200ft) high," he said. "The gorge filled up with water in a really short time," the BBC report said.
Rescuers were looking for survivors on small patches of shore or tiny islands, Eugenio Facciolla, chief prosecutor of the provincial capital Cosenza, said.
In some places the Raganello creek, part of the Pollino national park, is at the bottom of a narrow, one-kilometre-deep gorge in the mountain. Rescue teams used ropes to descend the sides of the mountain to reach the site, the guardian said.