The accident occurred due to two landslides on a highway that connects the city of Medellín with Quibdó, the capital of Chocó, the poorest department in the Andean country. The departmental authorities reported on Saturday that the number of fatalities, which was initially estimated at 18, rose to 23 as the hours passed. Rescue efforts continue with heavy machinery in the area removing tons of earth. At least 25 other people were injured and have been transferred to health centers in the area.
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The intense rains that hit the Pacific side of Colombia ended in tragedy on Friday. Two landslides that occurred on the road near the town of El Carmen de Atrato, in the department of Chocó, northwest of Colombia, have resulted to date in more than twenty deaths and another injury. Rescue and road cleaning efforts continue after the avalanches.
“It is already a fact that there are 23 dead people and 25 injured people, who were transferred to all the municipalities of Antioquia,” the mayor of El Carmen de Atrato reported to the Colombian station 'Blu Radio' this Saturday, January 13 before The departmental governor, Carolina Córdoba, will ratify the information.
The landslide occurred on Friday afternoon and left several vehicles completely buried, which remained stopped, according to images published on social networks, due to another avalanche that had previously blocked the main road.
A spokesperson for the Colombian Red Cross also mentioned on local television 'Caracol' that a group of fifty people were taking shelter in a house on the road when the avalanche hit. They remained in the house after another previous collapse and while the workers managed to reopen the road, local media report.
After the deadly events, the road was closed by the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) of Colombia. The departmental entity has decreed the state of public calamity. ''The institutional priority is to save the lives of the injured people, transfer them to healthcare centers in the country and achieve the rescue of the bodies found in the area,'' said the governor. “Today is a day of mourning for the Chocoan people, our prayers are with the families of the deceased, our efforts are already underway to evacuate the injured,” she added.
In parallel, rescue efforts continue on the ground, with the mobilization of air resources from the national Army as well as rescuers provided by the central Executive, members of the Civil Defense and the Ministry of Health. President Gustavo Petro spoke in X about what happened and sent a message of solidarity and help to the victims of the event.
Vice President Francia Márquez also did the same.
At this time, search and rescue actions continue for the people who remain trapped under the landslide on the Quibdó-Medellín highway, in Carmen del Atrato.
I deeply regret the death of 33 people in this tragedy, mostly girls and…
— Francia Márquez Mina (@FranciaMarquezM) January 13, 2024
Shows of support also came from outside the Andean country, through a statement from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. “The Brazilian Government learned with deep dismay of the landslides” and expresses its “solidarity” and “sincere condolences to the Government and the Colombian people.”
Quoted by local Colombian media 'The viewer'the representative of the city of Medellín, William Yeffer Vivas, stated that tragedies like these are common for these dates on the highway known as the “way of death” since there are “many water sources and instability in the mountains.”
With EFE and local media
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