(Retamas) Three new bodies, those of a mother and two sons, were found by rescuers on Friday, bringing the death toll from the landslide in northern Peru that swept away several homes on Tuesday to seven, officials said. local authorities.
Posted at 8:22 p.m.
The search operations are continuing, because there is still a missing person, according to the same source.
On Tuesday, several tons of earth fell from a high hill, burying seven houses in the isolated village of Retamas (5,000 inhabitants), located at 2,800 meters above sea level in the region of La Libertad (500 km north of Lima), 16 hours drive from Trujillo, the regional capital.
The President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, then went to the scene, deploring that poverty led to the construction of houses in places exposed to natural risks.
“This place had already been identified as a high-risk area,” said Civil Security preparedness director Miguel Yamazaki.
Landslides are common during the southern summer months in the Peruvian Andes due to seasonal rains.
In 2009, at least 13 people, including a child, had already died in Retamas in a landslide.
In mid-February in Brazil, more than 200 people died in Petropolis during floods which had notably caused a landslide, sweeping away dozens of houses built on the hillside.