The death toll from landslides in Ethiopia earlier this week has risen to 257, and is expected to rise to 500, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Thursday.
The first landslide, triggered by heavy rains in a remote region of Gofa zone, occurred on Monday and was followed by a second one that buried people who had gathered to help.
At least 148 men and 81 women were killed after the disaster struck in the Kencho-Shacha locality in the Gofa Zone on Monday, the local Communications Affairs Department said in a statement.
Five people were pulled alive from the mud and were receiving treatment at medical facilities, the government-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) reported earlier.
Gofa is part of the state known as the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR), located about 320km (199 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa.
The state has been battered by the short seasonal rains between April and May that caused flooding and mass displacement, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The southern region has experienced landslides previously, with at least 32 people killed in 2018 after two separate incidents within a week of each other.
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