Ethiopian landslide kills at least 229

ADDIS ABABA — Local residents were desperately searching for survivors on Tuesday after a landslide in southern Ethiopia killed at least 229 people, the deadliest such disaster recorded in the country.

According to a statement issued by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department, 148 males and 81 females were confirmed dead.

The disaster occurred at about 10 am on Monday following heavy rains in Gofa, an isolated mountainous area of the South Ethiopia regional state.

The government-owned Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation quoted local administrator Dagemawi Ayele as saying that most of the victims were buried after they went to help the inhabitants of a house hit by an initial landslide.

"Those who rushed for lifesaving work have perished in the disaster, including the locality's administrator, teachers, health professionals and agricultural professionals," EBC quoted Dagemawi as saying.

Young children and pregnant women were among victims of the landslide, Dagemawi said.

Images posted on social media by the Gofa authority showed residents carrying bodies of the dead on makeshift stretchers, some wrapped in plastic sheeting, and people clawing through the mud with shovels or their bare hands.

The South Ethiopia regional state has been battered by short seasonal rains between April and early May that have caused flooding and mass displacement, the United Nations humanitarian response agency OCHA said.

African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said "our hearts and prayers" are with the families of the victims. "We stand in strong solidarity with the people and Government of Ethiopia as rescue efforts continue to find the missing and assist the displaced," he said.

Agencies via Xinhua