At least 37 dead in Colombia landslides
A member of the rescue team stands at the area of a landslide in the road between Quibdo and Medellin, Choco department, Colombia on January 13. (Fredy Builes/AFP/Getty Images)
(CNN) — Landslides in Colombia’s northwestern area of Chocó have killed at least 37 people, authorities from the Prosecutor’s Office told CNN en Español on Saturday.
The latest report did not say how many had been injured.
“We are experiencing a very sad weekend for Chocó,” Governor Nubia Carolina Córdoba Curi said. “Our people feel the pain of the victims. I will not rest until I make sure that all Chocoans have information about their relatives.”
The landslides came down on a road between the cities of Quibdó and Medellín, Colombia’s Vice President Francia Marquez said Friday on X, after the area endured 24 hours of heavy rainfall.
At least 17 bodies have also been transferred to Medellin for forensic examination, authorities said.
Images on social media showed the moment a large piece of land dislodged from a mountain and fell on top of several cars that were moving along the flooded road below, Reuters reported.
A member of the rescue team searches for people trapped at the area of a landslide in the road between Quibdo and Medellin, Choco department, Colombia on January 13. (Fredy Builes/AFP/Getty Images)
Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, Colombian Civil Defense, the National Army, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the Choco police department have been mobilized to respond to the incident, Marquez also said.
Colombia has been plagued by deadly mudslides before. In 2017, hundreds of people were killed in a remote southern area of the country, after torrential rains sent a torrent of mud surging through the city of Mocoa.
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