(Mallama) Ten people, mostly women, were killed in a landslide caused by heavy rains in southwestern Colombia, a local official source said on Tuesday.
On the night of Monday to Tuesday, a mudslide and rocks buried two homes in Mallama, a town of 7,000 inhabitants in the department of Narino (near the border with Ecuador), according to an official of the regional administration , Jader Gaviria, Head of Disaster Management.
“Unfortunately, four people have died so far,” Gaviria said at midday. Later in the afternoon, the rescue services reassessed the death toll at ten, including eight women, some of whom were of Venezuelan nationality.
PHOTO LEONARDO CASTRO, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
The flow also cut a section of the national road, which the bulldozers were trying to clear.
Nine people were rescued, two of whom are seriously injured, but “it is assumed that other people are still trapped,” Gaviria said.
The two buried dwellings housed a small inn, a bar and a billiard room. The flow also cut a section of the national road, which the bulldozers were trying to clear.
According to Mr. Gaviria, the landslide was caused by the heavy rains that Colombia has been experiencing for several days.