At least 34 people died when a landslide buried a bus in northwestern Colombia on Sunday, the government’s disaster agency said Monday. A landslide caused by heavy rain hit a bus on the road between the villages of Pueblo Rico and Santa Cecilia in Risaralda province – about 230 km (140 miles) northwest of the capital Bogota – the national agency for risk and disaster management (UNGRD) said in a statement.
Rescuers are digging through the mud to survive, and authorities say nine people have been rescued alive. One of them was a seven-year-old girl who was found clinging to her deceased mother, said Risaralda Governor Victor Tamayo. In a message on Twitter, President Gustavo Petro described the incident as a tragedy. “Solidarity with the families of the victims,” Petro said, promising support from the national government.
Eight of the victims were minors, UNGRD said. Landslides are common in Colombia due to the mountainous terrain, frequent heavy rains and informal construction of houses. The country will focus on reforestation to avoid further landslide tragedies in the future, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said in a message on Twitter. Pueblo Rico Mayor Leonardo Fabio Siagama told reporters that the bodies were brought to the city’s sports stadium.
The bus was traveling from Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, to the municipality of Condoto in the province of Choco. Colombia has been hit by an unusually heavy rainy season, which is due to the meteorological phenomenon La Nina. Events related to heavy rains killed more than 216 people in 2022 and left 538,000 homeless, according to government statistics. A further 48 people are still missing across the country, figures show. The last major landslide killed over 320 people in the town of Mocoa in 2017.
