Madeira looks for 32 missing after island's floods

[February 23, 2010]  FUNCHAL, Madeira Islands (AP) -- Emergency crews in Madeira are looking for 32 people still missing four days after weekend landslides that claimed dozens of lives in the Portuguese island's worst disaster in living memory.

Authorities have confirmed the flash foods killed at least 42 people.

Rescue teams with sniffer dogs, Navy divers and bulldozers are involved search operations Tuesday.

Authorities are checking whether bodies might be trapped in piles of debris or in submerged underground parking lots.

But officials suspect the missing may have been swept out to sea when torrents poured down the Atlantic island's steep slopes.

Portugal is observing three days of mourning for the victims.

[Associated Press]

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