In a remote, mountainous region, residents were observed using their bare hands to sift through the dirt in a desperate search for survivors.
Heavy rains triggered mudslides in a remote area of Ethiopia, resulting in the deaths of at least 229 people, including many who were attempting to rescue survivors, local authorities reported on Tuesday. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described the event as a “terrible loss.”
Victims in the Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia included young children and pregnant women, according to local administrator Dagmawi Ayele. He also mentioned that at least five people had been rescued alive.
The death toll significantly increased from an initial count of 55 reported late Monday. Search operations are ongoing, stated Kassahun Abayneh, head of the communications office in Gofa Zone, where the mudslides took place. Ethiopia’s ruling party expressed sorrow over the disaster in a statement, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed shared his deep sadness over the tragic event in a Facebook post. The federal disaster prevention task force has been deployed to assist in the search and rescue efforts, according to the Prime Minister’s statement.
It remains unclear how many people are still missing.
On Monday, many victims were buried as rescue workers combed the steep terrain for survivors of a previous mudslide. Markos Melese, the director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone, stated that many rescuers are still unaccounted for. “There are children clinging to corpses, having lost their entire families, including their mother, father, brothers, and sisters,” he said.
Women could be heard wailing as rescuers used shovels to dig through the thick mud.
Landslides are common during Ethiopia’s rainy season, which began in July and is expected to last until mid-September.
Deadly mudslides often occur throughout East Africa, from Uganda’s mountainous east to central Kenya’s highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya’s Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through homes and severed a major road.