Landslide in south-western Colombia kills at least 28

Colombia's disaster relief agency said the mudslide, which was caused by heavy rains, occurred early on Sunday in a rural area of Rosas municipality.

Grab taken from an AFP video shows people searching for others who might be trapped under rubble after a mudslide in the municipality of Rosas, department of Valle del Cauca in southwestern Colombia, on April 21, 2019.
AFP

Grab taken from an AFP video shows people searching for others who might be trapped under rubble after a mudslide in the municipality of Rosas, department of Valle del Cauca in southwestern Colombia, on April 21, 2019.

At least 28 people have been killed and five injured in a landslide in the southwestern Colombian province of Cauca, the country's disaster relief agency said late on Monday.

The landslide, which was caused by heavy rains, occurred early on Sunday in a rural area of Rosas municipality, the agency said in a statement.

“In the last two days, we have recovered 28 bodies. Rescue operations will restart in the morning,” the disaster relief agency said on Twitter late on Monday.

On Sunday evening an agency spokesman said the death toll had risen from the initial figure of 14.

Five people were hospitalised and eight houses were destroyed.

A portion of the Pan-American Highway was also blocked by the landslide.

President Ivan Duque was to visit the area on Sunday evening with the housing and transport ministers to meet with relief officials, his office said in a statement.

Landslides are common in mountainous Colombia, especially during the rainy season and in areas where precarious informal housing and narrow roadways are constructed on deforested Andean hillsides. 

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