The landslide that occurred Monday night on a road connecting Bogota and southeastern Colombia has taken the death toll to 14, according to a new report released on Tuesday.
“We found 14 bodies that were found dead,” said Nicolas Garcia, the governor of the department of Cundinamarca where the tragedy caused by heavy rains took place, in a video posted to Twitter.
He said six people were found alive and taken to hospitals.
In a previous report, Colonel Jorge Diaz, the local director of disaster management, reported eight dead, including a child, six wounded and a dozen missing.
He also said 20 homes were “swept away” by the mudslide.
“The number of missing could not be determined, but we are talking about eleven (…). We’re trying to identify the people who lived in those 20 destroyed houses,” he told AFP.
A little earlier, the firefighters who evacuated around forty people had spoken of “20 missing”.
The governor of the department of Cundinamarca did not provide any information on the number of missing people in the drama in his video.
“Due to heavy rains in the afternoon and evening, torrential flooding occurred in Naranjal village around 11:15 p.m. yesterday,” said Fire Chief Alvaro Farfan.
The landslide occurred near a toll booth about sixty kilometers from the capital, Bogota, near the municipality of Quetame, in the department of Cundinamarca.
It also caused a bridge to collapse.
drones
“Many households have lost two, three or even four family members,” said Quetame Mayor Camilo Parrado.
“Aid organizations are using drones to resume the search. The mud is almost a meter high in some places, up to two meters in others, it’s very complex,” he added on El Dorado radio station.
The army has announced the deployment of around 80 soldiers to help search for missing people.
According to AFP, several vehicles, including trucks and motorcycles, were trapped by the mud and rocks flooding this road, where landslides are common.
The road axis, one of the most important in the country, connects Bogotá with Villavicencio, the capital in the southeast of the country. The local media reported monstrous traffic jams at the Bogotá exit in the direction of Villavicencio.
“The death in Quetame, Cundinamarca demonstrates the urgent need to manage the area in terms of water (…). My condolences go out to the families of the victims,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded on Twitter.
In December, 34 people, including eight minors, died in a landslide that buried a bus and several other vehicles in the northwest.
Traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death in Colombia. In 2021, more than 7,200 people lost their lives in a country of 50 million people.
The rainy season there started in June and usually lasts until November. Last year it claimed around 300 lives and affected 700,000 people.