The vice president of Colombia announced on Saturday that a landslide in an indigenous hamlet in northwest Colombia had claimed the lives of at least 33 persons, the majority of whom were youngsters.
“I deeply regret the death of 33 people in this tragedy, mostly children, according to preliminary reports from the territory,” Vice President Francia Marquez wrote on social media site X, the former Twitter.
Officials had earlier reported that 23 people had died and 20 injured in Friday’s avalanche that struck a road between Medellin and Quibdo in the Choco province.
“All the help available (is being sent) to Choco in this horrible tragedy,” President Gustavo Petro said on social media Friday.
Choco, a large tropical forest and Pacific Oceanfront town, experienced a landslide after more than twenty-four hours of heavy rain.
A segment of a mountain broke off and crashed down onto a line of automobiles in images that were circulated on social media and on broadcast channels. Screams could be heard throughout the incident.
While the majority of Colombia is experiencing a drought, the Amazon and many departments that border the Pacific are at risk of seeing large rainfall, according to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies.
