(Bogotá) A landslide killed at least 18 people and injured more than 30 Friday in northwestern Colombia, local authorities said.
The road linking the city of Medellin to Quibdo, in the department of Choco, was temporarily closed after being damaged by several landslides, an official from the governor’s office of this department told AFP.
On this same road, near the municipality of Carmen de Atrato, “many people” got out of their vehicles to “take refuge in a house which was” unfortunately “buried by a landslide, indicated the same source, which reported “18 deaths”.
The vice-president, Francia Marquez, declared on X that this event left “around” 30 injured.
Jaime Herrera, the mayor of Carmen de Atrato, told local TV station Caracol that people were “seriously injured” while others were still trapped underground, without giving a figure.
PHOTO COLOMBIA’S NATIONAL FIRE DEPARTMENT, PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Vehicles stopped after landslide on the road between Quibdo and Medellin
Images posted on social media and television channels showed cars destroyed by mud and landslides.
The department of Choco, which borders the Pacific Ocean and is home to a vast tropical forest, has been hit by heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours.
While Colombia is going through an episode of drought, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) had previously warned of the risk of heavy rains in several departments bordering the Pacific and the Amazon.