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Sri Lanka: Mudslides bury hundreds of villagers
Rescuers scramble to save lives after days of torrential rain unleashes landslides on three central villages
Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and more than 200 families were missing on Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris.
A Sri Lankan Red Cross official who attended a disaster meeting at the Aranayaka landslide site in Kegalle district said it was feared the death toll could be much higher than the official figure of 35 listed so far.
Villagers recalled hearing and seeing the ******** of muddy water, tree branches, and debris crashing down around their homes late on Tuesday.
"I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the Earth," AG Kamala, 52, who had just returned to her house in Siripura village when the landslides hit the area, about 100km northeast of the capital, Colombo.
"I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain and again a huge sound," she told the AP news agency.
Rescue teams are scouring the area for survivors [EPA]
Some 220 families were reported missing, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said in a statement. Officials could not give the village populations, but such villages typically include about 1,000-1,500 residents.
"At that meeting, it was revealed that around 300-400 people are feared to have died in the Aranayaka landslide," Neville Nanayakkara, director general of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, told Reuters news agency.
As anxious family members waited for news about missing loved ones, officials said the full extent of the tragedy was still unclear.
One woman, AG Alice, said all nine of her children were unaccounted for. "I don't know what happened to me after" the landslides hit with "a thundering sound I have never heard in my life", she said.
More than 1,000 people who escaped the disaster were sheltering and being treated for minor injuries at a nearby school and a Buddhist temple, according to government official Mahendra Jagath.
Troops using boats and helicopters also pulled to safety more than 200 people trapped in the northwestern coastal district of Puttalam, military spokesman Jayanath Jayaweera said.
Nearly 135,000 people across the country have been displaced and were being housed in temporary shelters. Officials warned more landslides and lightning strikes could occur in the countryside, as more rain was forecast along with rough seas along the coasts.
Mudslides are common in Sri Lanka during the monsoon season with heavy deforestation to clear land for agriculture leaving the countryside exposed.
Sri Lanka: Mudslides bury hundreds of villagers
Rescuers scramble to save lives after days of torrential rain unleashes landslides on three central villages
Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and more than 200 families were missing on Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris.
A Sri Lankan Red Cross official who attended a disaster meeting at the Aranayaka landslide site in Kegalle district said it was feared the death toll could be much higher than the official figure of 35 listed so far.
Villagers recalled hearing and seeing the ******** of muddy water, tree branches, and debris crashing down around their homes late on Tuesday.
"I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the Earth," AG Kamala, 52, who had just returned to her house in Siripura village when the landslides hit the area, about 100km northeast of the capital, Colombo.
"I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain and again a huge sound," she told the AP news agency.
Rescue teams are scouring the area for survivors [EPA]
Some 220 families were reported missing, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said in a statement. Officials could not give the village populations, but such villages typically include about 1,000-1,500 residents.
"At that meeting, it was revealed that around 300-400 people are feared to have died in the Aranayaka landslide," Neville Nanayakkara, director general of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, told Reuters news agency.
As anxious family members waited for news about missing loved ones, officials said the full extent of the tragedy was still unclear.
One woman, AG Alice, said all nine of her children were unaccounted for. "I don't know what happened to me after" the landslides hit with "a thundering sound I have never heard in my life", she said.
More than 1,000 people who escaped the disaster were sheltering and being treated for minor injuries at a nearby school and a Buddhist temple, according to government official Mahendra Jagath.
Troops using boats and helicopters also pulled to safety more than 200 people trapped in the northwestern coastal district of Puttalam, military spokesman Jayanath Jayaweera said.
Nearly 135,000 people across the country have been displaced and were being housed in temporary shelters. Officials warned more landslides and lightning strikes could occur in the countryside, as more rain was forecast along with rough seas along the coasts.
Mudslides are common in Sri Lanka during the monsoon season with heavy deforestation to clear land for agriculture leaving the countryside exposed.
