At least 229 people have been killed in landslides that occurred in Ethiopia with fears of the death toll likely to increase further.
A government official said on Tuesday that the landslide buried people in Gofa zone in Southern Ethiopia regional state.
Markos Melese, head of the National Disaster Response agency in Gofa Zone, was quoted by Reuters as saying that “We believe the number will increase.”
There was another landslide that triggered engulfing people who had gathered to help on Monday morning.
“Searching still going on and there are bodies that are yet to be recovered. The area is very challenging,” Melese said.
There are also fears that children and police officers were among at least 50 people who had died from the disaster. 10 people were rescued alive and at the hospitall for treatment.
A hillside can be seen partially collapsed with a large patch of red earth being exposed.
Gofa is part of the state known as Southern Ethiopia, located around 320km (199 miles) south-west of the capital, Addis Ababa.
Southern Ethiopia is among the areas of the country that have been hit by particularly heavy rain and flooding in recent months, according to the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).
But instances of landslides and floods go back further. In May 2016, at least 50 people were killed in floods and landslides following heavy rain across the south of the country.
Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.
The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.
