8 killed in mudslides in Colombia

BOGOTA – At least eight people were killed Saturday and dozens were missing when mudslides swept over parts of towns in western Colombia as the country was battered by ongoing heavy rain, authorities said.

In one of the incidents that hit Quindio and Caldas departments, four people were buried alive as they slept in their homes in El Castillo, a hamlet in the rural town of Calarca. Another nine people were injured there, Red Cross officials said.

Four people also were killed in the city of Manizales, the capital of Caldas, when another landslide swept into homes where about 32 families live, leaving four people dead and 28 missing, a Red Cross official said.

“We do have a lost of 28 people who are missing whose relatives say were on the scene at the time of the emergency,” said local Red Cross coordinator Jorge Zambrano.

Twelve people were rescued in that incident, the Red Cross said.

Colombia is having one of its worst rainy seasons in memory which as of Monday had left 37 people dead, 43 injured, seven missing and forcing the evacuations of at least 245,420 people.