Rescue teams with drones searched for survivors Tuesday after a landslide triggered by heavy rains left at least eight people dead and some 20 missing in central Colombia, authorities said.
Several homes were destroyed and a major trade artery blocked by mud after torrential rains hit the Quetame municipality in Colombia’s Cundinamarca department late Monday.
The dead included two children, civil defense director Jorge Diaz told Noticias Caracol TV.
Quetame mayor Camilo Parrado said some households “lost two, three, even four family members.”
Mud was piled a meter high, up to two meters in some places, he told El Dorado Radio, making for a “very complex” search and rescue operation.
“Relief agencies with drones are resuming the search,” said the mayor.
Firefighters have evacuated dozens of survivors, six of whom were taken to hospital.
The Cundinamarca fire department put the estimated number of missing people at 20.
According to Diaz, the landslide buried part of a road linking Bogota to the southeast of the country, one of the country’s main freight routes.
It happened near a toll post some 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the capital,
“We also have 20 houses totally destroyed,” said Diaz. “There is talk of between 11 and 20 people missing.”
Footage broadcast on Caracol showed large stones and mud obstructing the road between Bogota and Villavicencio,
Several vehicles are seen trapped in mud.
On Twitter, President Gustavo Petro offered his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of victims.
The rainy season in Colombia starts in June and usually lasts until November.
Last year, seasonal flooding left some 300 dead overall, including 34 people who died when the bus they were travelling on was buried in an avalanche in the west of the country.
