Colombia mudslide death toll rises to 26

Bogotá, Jul 21 (EFE).- Twenty six bodies have been found after the mudslide in the town of Quetame, in the central Colombian department of Cundinamarca, according to authorities on Friday.

“The search for the missing persons ends for today. Today we have found five more bodies for a total of 26. We have the task tomorrow of the three people who are still missing,” Cundinamarca governor Nicolás García said in his update on Tuesday’s incident.

On Friday, more than 100 families in Quetame, who lived between the Negro and Contador rivers, were evacuated due to the risk of another possible landslide.

The rescue work continued throughout Friday, amid adverse weather conditions, in the area where the people were trapped after the overflow of two streams, caused by heavy rains, at dawn on Tuesday that destroyed part of the Naranjal hamlet in rural Quetame.

According to data from the Mayor’s Office of Quetame, which belongs to the department of Cundinamarca, there are 20 houses under the mud, which also destroyed a bridge, causing the closure of the highway that connects Bogotá with Villavicencio, capital of the department of Meta and one of the main agricultural areas in the country.

President Gustavo Petro was on Friday monitoring the situation in the area, where the possibilities of new incidents are growing due to the unrelenting rain.

Meanwhile, authorities are working to try to restore communication in the area.

“The structure of the first of the two modular bridges that are going to be installed to rehabilitate the road to Llano has already arrived in the municipality,” reported the governor, who hoped that installation will begin on Sunday to be able to restore traffic flow. EFE

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