'Carelessness' costs 18 fungi hunters' lives

At least 18 mushroom-lovers have been killed this August in accidents while hunting for their favourite fungi in the mountains and forests of northern Italy.

Mountain rescuers say eager mushroom seekers are abandoning safety procedures as they don camouflage and hunt in darkness to protect coveted troves, la Repubblica newspaper reported.

"There is too much carelessness. Too many people don't give a damn about the right rules and unfortunately this is the result," Gino Comelli, head of the Alpine rescue service in northwest Italy's Valle di Fassa, told the newspaper.

Seventeen people have died in just nine days mostly from sliding off steep, damp slopes in the northern mountains. Another person has been missing for more than a week, the newspaper said.

A combination of thunderstorms and hot weather has led to a bumper mushroom crop.