27 people have died and 67 people are still missing following the landslide that buried a district of the city of Alausi, in southern Ecuador, last week, according to a new report announced on Saturday by the authorities.
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A gigantic mountain section broke off overnight from Sunday to Monday March 27 and fell on a peripheral district of this city of 45,000 inhabitants in the province of Chimborazo, regarding 300 km south of Quito.
The Ecuadorian prosecutor’s office announced on Twitter “27 confirmed dead following the landslide in #Alausi”, adding that it had “ordered the removal of two new bodies recently found in the rubble”.
In its latest report on Friday, the National Risk Management Secretariat (SNGR) recorded 38 injured, 67 missing and 850 people affected by the landslide.
“Rescue teams are continuing, for the sixth consecutive day, the search for missing persons,” the SNGR said on Saturday.
This sector had been on “yellow alert” since February due to the rains that have affected the country since January.
Hit by heavy rains that caused widespread flooding, Ecuador last week declared a state of emergency in 13 of the country’s 24 provinces, to mobilize resources to help those affected.