Officers say a minimum of 33 folks have died in mudslides introduced on by heavy rains within the province of Choco.
Not less than 33 folks have been killed in a landslide introduced on by heavy rains in northwestern Colombia, officers have mentioned.
“I deeply remorse the dying of 33 folks on this tragedy, largely kids, in keeping with preliminary reviews from the territory,” Vice President Francia Marquez wrote on the social media platform X on Saturday.
“At the moment, search and rescue actions proceed for the individuals who stay trapped,” she mentioned.
The mudslide, which occurred on Friday afternoon, coated a roadway that connects the cities of Quibdo and Medellin within the Pacific province of Choco, authorities mentioned.
En estos momentos continúan las acciones de búsqueda y rescate de las personas que permanecen atrapadas bajo el deslizamiento de tierra en la vía Quibdó-Medellín, en Carmen del Atrato.
Lamento profundamente el fallecimiento de 33 personas en esta tragedia, en su mayoría niñas y…
— Francia Márquez Mina (@FranciaMarquezM) January 13, 2024
Dozens have been additionally injured on a busy freeway, and a few folks have been lacking after mud engulfed a number of vehicles on the highway.
A specialised rescue group from the Colombian police rescued survivors and retrieved our bodies on Saturday.
Authorities in Medellin mentioned that, as of early Saturday, 17 our bodies had been transported there and that forensic examiners had recognized three of them, the AFP information company reported. No names have been launched.
With a number of highway closures, rescue crews and firefighters struggled to succeed in the hardest-hit space.
“Since final evening, we’ve been working hand-in-hand with emergency and aid organisations on the Quibdo-Medellin highway,” the police mentioned. “We deployed all our capabilities to rescue and assist these affected.”
About 50 troopers additionally arrived to help, and pictures launched by the military confirmed mud-covered males struggling by way of swampy terrain.
“All the assistance accessible [is being sent] to Choco on this horrible tragedy,” President Gustavo Petro mentioned on social media on Friday.
The landslide in Choco, which lies on the Pacific Ocean and is house to an enormous tropical forest, adopted greater than 24 hours of intense rain.
Pictures on social media confirmed the second a big piece of land dislodged from a mountain and fell on high of a number of vehicles that have been transferring alongside the flooded highway under.
The highway has been closed by Colombia’s Nationwide Unit for Catastrophe Threat Administration (UNGRD).
A landslide in the identical a part of Colombia in December 2022 killed a minimum of 27 folks, trapping folks in a bus and different autos.
Whereas a lot of Colombia is struggling a interval of drought, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Research has warned of the chance of heavy rains within the Amazon and in a number of departments bordering the Pacific.