At least 30 people were killed after heavy rains sent tonnes of debris crashing into flimsy houses in Santa Catarina Pinula

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

At least 30 people have died and hundreds were missing after a landslide struck near Guatemala City as rescue crews continued to search for survivors in homes buried by dirt and sludge.



Loosened by heavy rains, tonnes of dirt and trees tumbled onto Santa Catarina Pinula in a valley south-east of the capital late on Thursday, flattening dozens of flimsy houses when many residents had gone home for the night.

Aerial footage broadcast in Guatemala showed the tree-lined hillside laid bare above a huge mound of earth, foliage and debris that completely covered part of the town, which hugs the side of a river in a deep ravine.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rescue workers and firemen search for survivors in Cambray near Guatemala City on Friday. Photograph: Moises Castillo/AP

Scores of rescue workers worked until dusk on Friday to recover bodies from the tangle of mangled walls, beds and furniture churned up in the landslide. A Reuters photo showed the face of one person who had apparently been buried alive.

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Alejandro Maldonado, head of Guatemalan disaster agency Conred, said on Friday that as many as 600 could still be missing after the disaster, which he said hit 125 homes.

Search efforts resumed at dawn on Saturday and fire services spokesman Julio Sanchez said another four bodies had been recovered, raising the death toll to 30.

The dead included two babies and a mother embracing her two daughters, said Carlos Turcios, a doctor who saw them while assisting with rescue efforts.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The aftermath of the landslide in Cambray near Guatemala City on Friday. Photograph: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images

“I feel like I’ve lost my loved ones because all my neighbors died,” said survivor Melina Hidalgo, 35.

She was washing clothes when there was a loud crash and the lights went out. She found neighbouring houses covered in soil and mud. Felled electricity poles were giving off sparks and crying people searched for children, Hidalgo added.

Guatemalan media reported rescuers heard voices under collapsed buildings and earth as they struggled to dig people out.

The landslide was one of the worst in recent memory in the impoverished Central American country. Last month, the country was shocked by the arrest of its president on corruption charges.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rescue workers and firemen search for survivors in Cambray near Guatemala City on Friday. Photograph: Xinhua/REX Shutterstock

Marta Guitz, 37, returned from work to find her house buried and was unable to reach Dany, her 17-year-old son, who she believed was inside.

“My husband is there now shoveling through soil to find our son,” the domestic worker said as tears welled.

Oscar Raul de Leon and his family abandoned their home and he looked for his cousin, but all he found were the remains of the relative’s home.