2024-01-13 05:33:00
At least 18 people died this Friday and around 30 are trapped after a landslide in an indigenous community in northwest Colombia, an official from the government of the department of Chocó informed AFP.
According to the official, several landslides closed the road that leads from the city of Medellín to Quibdó.
“Many people” got out of their vehicles and “took shelter in a house” near the municipality of Carmen de Atrato, “but unfortunately an avalanche came and buried them,” he said.
“The information we have so far is of 18 deaths,” he added.
The vice president, Francia Márquez, reported on the X network (formerly Twitter) that there are “approximately” 30 people injured by the avalanche.
For more than 24 hours it has been pouring in that region next to the Pacific, where one of the rainiest jungles in the world is located.
Images shared on social networks and television channels show destroyed cars in the middle of mud and landslides.
According to the official who spoke with AFP, there are “several” landslides that make the work of rescuers and firefighters who are already in the area difficult.
“There is even a call for them to arrive with helicopters because as there are several landslides, access is difficult,” he said.
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Jaime Herrera, the mayor of Carmen de Atrato, assured Caracol Televisión that there are people “who are too injured” and several more underground, without giving a figure.
Although Colombia is going through a dry season, the state Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) had earlier reported heavy rains in some departments of the Pacific and the Amazon.
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