Colombia landslide kills 254 'adults and infants' as debris crashes on houses

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You

can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy

Mud and debris crashed down onto houses in the southwestern border province of Putumayo overnight, injured dozens more.

Police commander Colonel Omar Bonilla told local radio station Caracol: “At this time, we have removed 93 bodies; we have adults, women and infants.”

The death toll later rose to 254 with more than 400 others reportedly injured.

Families and rescuers searched desperately on Sunday through mud-plastered rubble for victims of flooding and landslidess.

Several rivers burst their banks near the southwestern provincial capital of Mocoa in the early hours of Saturday, sending water, mud and debris crashing down streets and into houses as

people slept.

Volunteers and firefighters tended to 82 bodies downstream in the town of Villagarzon and said many corpses were still caught in debris.

Floods brought mud spewing out onto homes, crushing families.

A big portion of the many houses were just taken by the avalanche

Neighbours spent the first night and morning searching for survivors in the muddy waters.

Maria Lilia Tisoy, 37, is looking for her two daughters, one pregnant, and a 4-year-old granddaughter in the rubble.

She said: ”I need to know where they are, if they are injured or where to find them. 

Mocoa Mayor Jose Antonio Castro told Caracol Radio: "It's a big area. 

"A big portion of the many houses were just taken by the avalanche, but above all the people were warned with enough time and they were able to get out, but houses in 17 neighbourhoods have

basically been erased."

Two bridges were also destroyed, Castro said, and there was an indeterminate number of people missing.

He said: ”The figures have been going up and in the crisis room they kept reporting more dead, we hope to God that (the death toll) will not go up too much because it is very sad."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will visit the area, the government said. 

Santos said via Twitter that he was praying for the victims and had ordered immediate help for Mocoa. 

Heavy rains and a mountainous landscape regularly cause landslides in the Andean country.

#Solidaridad con habitantes de Mocoa #Putumayo desbordamiento ríos; gobierno Colombia������������atiende con organismos emergencia. Imágenes @ELTIEMPO pic.twitter.com/7tJoLFaP7z

Villagarzon Mayor Jhon Ever Calderon told Reuters the the town had no coffins or sanitary storage.

He said: ”We had to recover them ourselves. We think we'll find more.” 

President Juan Manuel Santos made a second visit to the area on Sunday. He said water and energy services would be restored as soon as possible.

Santos blamed climate change for the disaster, saying Mocoa had received one-third of its usual monthly rain in just one night, causing the rivers to burst their banks.

See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive.