Rescuers digging through a landslide in northern Peru said, on Wednesday, said that they had found two dead bodies, including a one-month-old baby.
Authorities said that a landslide had occurred on Tuesday in the town of Retamas, about 500 kilometres north of Lima, burying several homes and trapping at least eight people.
The spokesman for the police rescue body, Jose Rivas said that they had managed to recover the body of one man and a one-month-old girl.
“Most probably he was trying to protect the girl and the landslide buried both of them,” Rivas said.
Rivas said that the bodies were found in the rubble of a market.
The Defense Minister, Jose Gavidia, said there were eight people, including three children, missing.
On Tuesday, authorities had also said that there were 15 people missing from a mining village that had a population of about 5000 people.
Gavidia also corrected a claim from Tuesday by La Libertad Governor, Manuel Llempen, who said that at least 60 homes were buried, lowering that figure to “about seven.”
“I managed to get out in time but my house was buried. The landslide has left us with nothing,” said Ledy Leiva, who escaped with five family members.
It was also gathered that rescue efforts went on all night from Tuesday to Wednesday with only a couple of hours break.
The Peruvian President, Pedro Castillo, also arrived at the village on Wednesday morning to supervise the rescue efforts.
Castillo said that Peru lacked a risk map and that people tried to put roofs over their heads at delicate places.
“In Peru, we lack a risk map, there are people who dare to put a roof over a river or drill a hole in a hill to make homes,” Castillo said, referring to poor people with no other option than to build makeshift homes in precarious places.
In 2009, at least 13 people, including one child, were killed by another landslide in Retamas, which was considered a high-risk area.
Landslides were said to be frequent in the wet summers of the Peruvian Andes.
Tuesday’s landslide was believed to have been caused by heavy recent rainfall.
AFP
