Colombia mudslide toll rises

At least 29 people have been killed in floods and mudslides in western Colombia.

Officials fear the toll could climb to 50

Another eight people are unaccounted for.

 

Eduardo Gonzalez, the director of Disaster Warning and Prevention Office, said: “Up to this moment we have recovered 29 bodies, and eight people remain on our list of missing, four military and four civilians.”

 

Disaster officials said on Sunday that heavy rains on Wednesday led Dagua river to overflow its banks and devastated an area of Valle Del Cauca province, between Cali and Buenaventura, Colombia‘s  Pacific port.

 

Since then, numerous mudslides have blocked key roads and forced the evacuation of a thousand people from Buenaventura.

  

Diego Palacio, the social welfare minister, said on Friday that  the number of deaths could reach 50.

Source: AFP