Venezuela landslide kills 22, more than 50 missing

Five rivers overflowed and caused major damage and loss of life, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez reported.

Source AFP

The city is home to 50,000 inhabitants, and was the victim of a terrible landslide.
© YURI CORTEZ / AFP

Published on 2022-10-09 at 10:42 p.m.

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AAt least 22 people have died and 52 are missing after a landslide late Saturday afternoon in Las Tejerias, an industrial town about 50 kilometers southwest of Caracas, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced on Sunday. .

The heavy rains that have been falling for weeks have already caused the death of 13 people across the country. “Five streams have overflowed and (…) we are seeing very significant damage here, loss of life: to date, we have already found 22 dead, there are more than 52 missing people,” the local media told local media. vice-president. In Las Tejerias, journalists from Agence France-Presse were able to observe a large number of destroyed houses, completely devastated businesses, landslides of mud, and in the streets, the presence of trees dragged down from the mountain.

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A thousand people are taking part in the rescue operations, Interior and Justice Minister Remigio Ceballos Ichaso told AFP, who went there to assess the damage. Carmen Melendez has lived in this city of more than 50,000 inhabitants for 55 years. “The city is lost, Las Tejerias is lost,” she says. In 1999, huge landslides claimed 10,000 lives in the state of Vargas, 25 kilometers north of Caracase.