Following a Fatal Mudslide in Southern Ethiopia, Rescue Operations are Still Underway

On Tuesday, efforts to find survivors of a mudslide that killed at least 229 people in southern Ethiopia were ongoing.

According to local officials, several of the deaths—which marked a huge rise from the initial tally of 55—included attempts to rescue survivors.

It was a downpour that started the calamity in the isolated Kencho Shacha Gozdi area of Ethiopia.

According to local administrator Dagmawi Ayele, at least five individuals were saved alive among the casualties, which included little children and expectant mothers.

Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, expressed his deepest sympathies for the tragic loss on Facebook and said that the government disaster prevention task force had been activated to support the search and rescue operations.

It is unknown how many persons are still unaccounted for.

Many bodies were buried on Monday as rescue workers searched the difficult terrain for those who had survived a prior mudslide.

According to officials of the communications office in Gofa Zone, the administrative region where the mudslides happened, search operations were still underway in the area.

According to Markos Melese, the director of the Gofa Zone disaster response organization, a large number of rescuers are still missing.