Mudslides in Ethiopia: Tragedy and Heroic Efforts Amid Torrential Rains

At least 157 people, including young children and pregnant women, died in mudslides in Ethiopia's Kencho Shacha Gozdi district following heavy rainfall. Local officials reported the increasing death toll as rescue efforts continued, with ongoing searches for survivors and missing persons. Landslides are frequent during Ethiopia's rainy season.

At least 157 people were killed in mudslides in a remote part of Ethiopia that has been hit with heavy rainfall, many of them as they tried to rescue survivors of an earlier mudslide, local authorities said Tuesday.

Young children and pregnant women were among the victims in the Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia, said local administrator Dagmawi Ayele.

As search operations progressed, the death toll rose from 55 late Monday to 157 on Tuesday, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the Gofa Zone communications office, the administrative area where the mudslides occurred.

Most of the victims were buried by a mudslide Monday morning while rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors from another mudslide the previous day.

At least five people have been pulled alive from the mud, Ayele said.

Another official in Gofa, Markos Melese, stated many people remained unaccounted for among the group that was covered by mud while trying to rescue others.

''We are still searching for the missing,'' said Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone. ''There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister, due to the accident,'' he said. Landslides are common during Ethiopia's rainy season, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

(With inputs from agencies.)