Deaths toll from the landslides in Ethiopia has risen to 257, but the final death toll is expected to be 500, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The UN agency released the figures on Thursday after the landslides in the mountainous Gofa zone in southern Ethiopia, the first triggered by heavy rains on Monday, the second engulfing those who had gathered to rescue people.
Hundreds of people combed through red mud at the scene of the disaster in the Kencho Shacha locality, searching for survivors of the deadliest landslide recorded in Africas second most populous country.
“More than 15,000 affected people need to be evacuated,” OCHA said. The figures included at least 1,320 children as well as 5,293 pregnant women and new mothers.
The state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) reported that most of those killed were buried after they went to help the inhabitants of a house hit by an initial landslide.
Source: Qatar News Agency