Colombia landslide: death toll rises to 15, search suspended

July 18, 2023

Rescue teams on Tuesday suspended the search for survivors after the landslide that left at least 15 dead and 13 missing in Colombia on the road linking Bogota to the southeast of the country.

“So far we have a death toll of 15 people and six injured,” Fire Captain Alvaro Farfan said in a video sent to media.

He said relief operations had been suspended as night fell and would resume on Wednesday morning. Thirteen people are still under the rubble.

The landslide, which also caused the collapse of a bridge, occurred in Quetame (center), a town in the department of Cundinamarca which is now cut off from the capital.

In a previous report, Colonel Jorge Diaz, local director of civil protection, had reported eight dead, including a child, as well as six wounded and a dozen missing.

He also said that 20 houses had been “swept away” by the mudslide.

Family members of the disappeared rushed to the scene of the tragedy, such as Alejandro Bernal, who came from Bogota to look for his grandmother, uncles, cousins and friends who lived in the area.

“We want to help in some way, to look for the bodies. And if we don’t have the opportunity to find them, at least to be clear about it and give them a burial,” he said. at AFP.

“Due to heavy rains in the afternoon and evening yesterday, around 11:15 p.m., a torrential flood occurred in the village of Naranjal,” said fire captain Alvaro Farfan.

“Many households have lost two, three or even four members of their family,” said the mayor of Quetame, Camilo Parrado.

“Relief organizations are using drones to relaunch the search. The mud reaches almost a meter high in some areas, two meters in others, it’s very complex,” he added to El radio. Dorado.

The army announced the deployment of some 80 soldiers to help search for the missing.

Several vehicles, including trucks and motorcycles, were trapped by the mud and the rocks which invaded this road where landslides are frequent, noted AFP.

The road axis, one of the main ones in the country, connects Bogotá to Villavicencio, the main city in the south-east of the country. The local media showed monster traffic jams at the exit from Bogota towards Villavicencio.

“The death that occurs in Quetame, Cundinamarca, demonstrates the urgent need to manage the territory in relation to water (…). My condolences to the families of the victims”, reacted Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Twitter.

In December, 34 people, including eight minors, died in a landslide that buried a bus and several other vehicles in the northwest.

Road accidents are one of the main causes of death in Colombia, with more than 7,200 people killed in 2021 in a country of 50 million inhabitants.

The rainy season there started in June and usually lasts until November. Last year, it caused some 300 deaths and 700,000 people were affected.