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By Staff Writers, teleSUR
teleSUR
Saturday, Oct 3, 2015
At Least 26 Dead, Hundreds Missing After Mudslide in Guatemala
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| A resident looks at houses damaged by a landslide in Santa Catarina Pinula, on the outskirts of Guatemala City. | Photo: Reuters
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At least 26 people are dead and as many as 600 missing after a mudslide in Guatemala on Friday.
Dozens more were injured after heavy rains caused a hillside collapse. The head of the country’s disaster agency, Alejandro Maldonado, said at least 125 homes were hit in the small town of Santa Catarina Pinula, located on the outskirts of the nation.
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| Residents try to leave an area affected by the mudslide in Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala. | Photo: Reuters
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Rescue workers and hundreds of volunteers continue to search for survivors buried under the wreckage of trees, dirt and homes.
"I feel like I've lost my loved ones because all my neighbors died," Melina Hidalgo, 35, told Reuters. Local television stations showed footage of entire swaths of the town reduced to rubble.
The disaster is one of the worst mudslides in years to hit Guatemala – one of Latin America's poorest countries. It came just weeks after the country’s former president, Pérez Molina, resigned over charges of corruption.
A World Bank report from late 2014 found over half of Guatemalans live in poverty, with many of the country's citizens becoming even poorer over the past decade.
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