At least 33 people, mostly children, were killed in a landslide in an Indigenous community in northwestern Colombia, the country's vice president said Saturday.
Rescuers slogging through deep mud were rushing against the clock in hopes of finding survivors in the rubble.
"All the help available[is being sent] to Choco in this horrible tragedy," President Gustavo Petro said on social media Friday.
Authorities in Medellin said that, as of early Saturday, 17 bodies had been transported there and that forensic examiners had identified three of them. No names were released.
Rescuers struggle to reach site
With several road closures, rescue crews and firefighters struggled to reach the hardest-hit area, and one official told AFP there had been a request for helicopters to help.
"Since last night, we have been working hand-in-hand with emergency and relief organizations on the Quibdo-Medellin road," the police said. "We deployed all our capabilities to rescue and help those affected."
About 50 soldiers also arrived to assist, and images released by the army showed mud-covered men struggling through swampy terrain.
Slide follows heavy rain
The landslide in Choco, which lies on the Pacific Ocean and is home to a vast tropical forest, followed more than 24 hours of intense rain.
A local official told AFP that many travelers, blocked by an earlier landslide Friday, had left their cars to take shelter in a house near the municipality of Carmen de Atrato.
A specialized rescue group from the Colombian Police carries the body of a deceased person during an operation to rescue survivors of a landslide in Choco, Colombia, Jan. 13, 2024. (Colombian Police/Handout via Reuters)
"But unfortunately, an avalanche came and buried them," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Images shared on social networks and on television channels showed part of a mountain breaking loose and crashing down onto a line of cars, while screams are heard.
A landslide in the same part of Colombia in December 2022 killed at least 27 people, trapping people in a bus and other vehicles.
While much of Colombia is suffering a period of drought, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies has warned of the risk of heavy rains in the Amazon and in several departments bordering the Pacific.
