The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 65 people injured in Mocoa, a city of 350,000 people located near Colombia's border with Ecuador.
Carlos Ivan Marquez with Colombia's national disaster agency says the river flooded around midnight, catching unsuspecting residents off guard in the early Saturday hours.
[yahoo.com/AP]
1/4/17
A landslide in Colombia's southwestern border province of Putumayo sent mud and debris crashing onto houses overnight, killing 112 people and injuring at least 120, officials said today.
ReplyDeleteHeavy rains caused several rivers to overflow, pushing sediment and rocks onto buildings and roads in the provincial capital of Mocoa and immobilising cars in several feet of mud.
"It has just been reported to me that we have 112 people dead," President Juan Manuel Santos said after arriving in Mocoa and declaring a state of emergency. "We will keep looking," he added, referring to ongoing rescue efforts.
Local police said earlier that 93 bodies had been recovered. The disaster response unit said 120 people were injured, though local media reported at least 200.
[rte.ie]
1/4/17