112 buried alive in Colombia landslides
Bogota, April 1: Landslides in Colombia’s southwestern border province of Putumayo sent mud and debris crashing onto houses overnight, killing 112 people and injuring at least 120, officials said on Saturday.
Heavy rains caused several rivers to overflow, pushing sediment and rocks onto buildings and roads in the provincial capital of Mocoa, immobilising cars in several feet of mud.
“It has just been reported to me that we have 112 people dead,” President Juan Manuel Santos said after arriving in Mocoa and declaring a state of emergency. “We will keep looking,” he added, referring to ongoing rescue efforts.
Local police said earlier on Saturday that 93 bodies had been recovered.
Heavy rains caused several rivers to overflow, pushing sediment and rocks onto buildings and roads The disaster response unit said 120 people were injured, though local media reported at least 200. “We have sent a team of 150 people to make our response effective and machinery began work immediately,” Carlos Ivan Marquez, head of the disaster unit, said in a statement. “We will be with the governor and the mayor giving all necessary attention.”
Photos posted on Twitter by the Air Force showed neighbourhood streets filled with mud and damaged houses .
Bogota, April 1: Mudslides have killed 112 people, injured 180 and left 200 missing after destroying homes in southern Colombia, the Red Cross and officials said on Saturday.
The surge swept away houses, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber and brown mud, army photographs from the town of Mocoa showed.
The mudslides struck late on Friday after days of torrential rain.
“We can report 92 people dead and 180 injured,” the Red Cross aid group’s rescue official Cesar Urena said.
He warned that the death toll may rise because 200 people are still missing.
“The number is rising enormously and at considerable speed,” he said.
The disaster of "large proportions," he added.
The organisation has raised the toll from an initial estimate of 16 dead.
Governor Sorrel Aroca of the Putumayo department called the development “an unprecedented tragedy” for the area.
There are “hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighborhoods have disappeared,” he told W Radio.
Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit, said the mudslides were caused by the rise of the Mocoa River and tributaries.
The rivers flooded, causing a “big avalanche”, the Army said in a statement.
President Juan Manuel Santos said he would travel to Mocoa, the Putumayo capital, to supervise rescue and assistance efforts in the heavily forested region.
He promised to "guarantee assistance to the victims of this tragedy, which has Colombians in mourning," he wrote on Twitter.
“Our prayers are with the victims and those affected.”
The authorities activated a crisis group including more than 100 local officials, military personnel, police and rescuers to search for missing people and begin removing hundreds of tons of debris, Mr Marquez said.