At least 15 people are missing after a landslide swept away dozens of hillside homes on Tuesday in a village in northern Peru.
Posted at 12:03 a.m.
“We estimated that between 15 and 20 people are still missing,” Defense Minister Jose Gavidia said during a visit to the city on Tuesday evening, a dozen hours after the hill collapsed.
Officials say at least three children are among the missing.
The toll could worsen in the coming hours. Impressive videos filmed by residents of the town of Retamas show tons of earth falling off the top of the hill and swallowing up many houses.
“The scree covered, according to the first observations, between 60 and 80 houses”, said on a local radio the governor of the region of Libertad, Manuel Llempen. “They are completely buried”.
Several people buried in mud and rock were rescued by neighbors who drilled through their roofs and walls, local media reported.
“There are a lot of people trapped […] inside their homes,” Mr. Llempen said.
Peru’s President Pedro Castillo has assured that the government will help families affected by the disaster.
Difficult to access, Retamas is mainly inhabited by families of miners. It is located 16 hours by road from the regional capital Trujillo, 500 km north of Lima.
Landslides are common during the southern summer months in the Peruvian Andes due to seasonal rains.