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Over 150 killed in Colombia landslides

Updated 21:17 It's believed that now up to 150 people have been killed in a series of landslides ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

17.31 1 Apr 2017


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Over 150 killed in Colombia la...

Over 150 killed in Colombia landslides

Newstalk
Newstalk

17.31 1 Apr 2017


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Updated 21:17

It's believed that now up to 150 people have been killed in a series of landslides in the city of Mocoa, Colombia. 

Red Cross officials say the death toll from mudslides in southern Colobia has reached 150 with 400 people believed to be injured.

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Homes were destroyed and people killed in their sleep after the local river overflowed into the city of 350,000 people, which sits near Colombia's border with Ecuador.

President Michael D. Higgins has since written to the President of Colombia, expressing his sympathy following landslides which have claimed more than a hundred lives. 

Police commander Colonel Omar Bonilla told local radio station Caracol "At this time we have removed 93 bodies; we have adults, women and infants."

Carlos Ivan Marquez, from Colombia's national disaster agency, said the river flooded around midnight on Friday/Saturday and emergency services have been working with the country's military to rescue survivors.

Colombia's national disaster agency says emergency services are working with the country's military to rescue survivors but it's feared the death toll will rise further.

Officials said more than 120 people have been injured but Herman Granados, a surgeon at the local hospital, said he believed the injury toll would likely pass 300 and that doctors were running out of blood to help treat patients.

The mudslides happened yesterday, following days of torrential rain.


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