Landslide leaves at least 11 dead in Colombia | News

After several days of intense rains in the Colombian city of Pereira, capital of Risaralda, a landslide was recorded on Tuesday on Avenida del Río, between streets 26 and 27, La Esneda sector, which left at least 11 people dead and several disappeared, according to the country's president, Iván Duque.

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"We deeply regret what happened between Dosquebradas and Pereira, Risaralda, where a mass movement has so far left 11 people dead, 35 injured and material losses caused," Duque wrote on his social networks.

Preliminarily, the authorities said that among the deceased there was a 13-year-old girl and at least 21 people who were injured, who were transported to different hospitals in the capital of Risaralda.

The landslide produced in the vicinity of the Otún River also caused the clogging of several houses located in this neighborhood, since the rising of the river caused the slide from the hillside and towards the houses.

The Secretary of Government of Pereira, Álvaro Arias, stated that there was no exact information on the number of disappeared.

"The landslide occurs in the La Esneda sector, in Dos Quebradas, but crosses the entire Otún River and ends in the city of Pereira on Avenida del Río," he added.

"There are missing homes in Pereira and Dosquebradas, but the number of victims is yet to be clarified. The information is being collected with the relatives," he said.

Pereira is a "depressed and vulnerable" sector, in the Governor's opinion, so it is difficult to assess the number of housing damages, since people live in houses with reduced spaces.

“A landslide emergency is occurring in the La Esneda neighborhood. There, several houses were affected, with people who have been trapped under the landslide," Risaralda's Secretary of Government, Isarael Londoño, told local media.

At this time, work is being carried out to rescue them," he said.

“The affectation is also in the avenue of the River, to avoid that the vehicles accumulate. Please take alternate routes to go to the rest of the city, ”he added.

Later, the aid agencies that attend announced the suspension of the search and rescue work, given the risk that exists in the upper part of the mountain that more earth, rock and mud may come off.