(Bogotá) Rescuers discovered on Sunday a 36e victim of landslides on Friday in northwest Colombia, according to a new report from the authorities, while seven people are still missing.
A previous count reported 33 dead and 10 missing. Twenty people were injured in the landslides which covered the road between Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city, and Quibdo.
“In the last few hours, three new bodies have been found. Two identified by their relatives, one person who has still not been identified,” the Choco department governor’s office said in a statement.
“Most” of the people who died in this disaster in the municipality of Carmen de Atrato are children from an indigenous community, vice-president Francia Marquez wrote on the social network
“To all the families of the victims, my condolences […] We hope to find” the missing and “we hope that they are not dead,” declared President Gustavo Petro.
In images broadcast via social networks and television channels, we can see the moment when a section of mountain collapses and covers a row of cars, while screams are heard.
A local official told AFP that “many people” had managed to get out of their vehicles and “take refuge in a house” near the town of Carmen de Atrato. “But, unfortunately, another landslide occurred and buried them,” she added.
The department of Choco, which borders the Pacific Ocean and is home to a vast tropical forest, has been prey to heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours.
More than 200 people, firefighters, rescuers, soldiers and residents are taking part in the search, while relatives of the missing waited for news.
“We need to know what is happening with my nephew because we know nothing about him, neither dead nor alive,” Clara Estrada told AFP on Saturday.
Pope Francis prayed “for the victims of the landslide in Colombia” during the traditional Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. President Petro promised “all available help to the Choco in this horrible tragedy”.
While Colombia is going through an episode of drought, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) had warned of the risk of heavy rains in several departments bordering the Pacific and the Amazon.
“The possibility of other landslides is there, at this precise location. There have been two days of sunshine, the risk is less, but as soon as the rains start, all the personnel involved in the activity and those who are here are in danger,” warned Mr. Petro.