The death toll from landslides in Ethiopia earlier this week has risen to 257, and is expected to rise to 500, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia's National Disaster Risk Management Commission had put the death toll at 229. Following heavy rain a landslide buried people in Gofa zone in Southern Ethiopia regional state on Sunday night, then a second one engulfed others who had gathered to help on Monday morning.
Search operation continues even on the fourth day
Search operations continued in the area, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the communications office in Gofa Zone, the administrative area where the mudslides occurred. Ethiopia's ruling party in a statement said it felt sorrow over the disaster. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on Facebook that he was “deeply saddened by this terrible loss."
VIDEO: Mudslides in Ethiopia have killed at least 229
The federal disaster prevention task force has been deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts, Abiy's statement said. It was not immediately clear how many people were still unaccounted for.
Many victims were buried on Monday as rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors of another mudslide the previous day. Markos Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone, said many rescuers remained missing.
"Children hugging corpses"
"There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister," he said. Some women wailed as rescuers attempted to dig through the thick mud with shovels.
Landslides are common during Ethiopia's rainy reason, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September. Deadly mudslides often occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda's mountainous east to central Kenya's highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya's Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road.
(With inputs from agency)
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