50 people killed in Ethiopia landslides

At least 50 people have been killed in landslides in southern Ethiopia, according to local officials.

Two incidents are thought to have occurred on Sunday evening and Monday morning, after heavy rains in a remote mountainous area of the Gofa zone.

The local authority said the search for survivors was “continuing vigorously” but that the “death toll could yet increase”.

Footage showed hundreds of people gathered at the scene and others digging in the dirt in search of people trapped underneath.

In the background, a hillside can be seen partially collapsed and a large patch of red earth has been exposed.

Meskir Mitku, the general administrator of the Gofa zone, said women, children, and police officers were among the casualties.

“There was a heavy rain yesterday (Sunday) night and some people died from a landslide,” the government spokesperson for the Gofa district in the South Ethiopia regional state, Kassahun Abayneh, said.

“In the morning (Monday), locals, including police, gathered at the site to save those who were affected by the first landslide. That is when the second landslide happened around 10:00 (07:00 GMT) today and those who gathered there died,” he said in quotes cited by AFP news agency.

Gofa is part of the South Ethiopia regional state and is located around 320km (199 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa.

South Ethiopia is among the areas of the country that have been hit by particularly heavy rain and flooding in recent months, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

But instances of landslides and floods go back further. In May 2016, at least 50 people were killed in floods and landslides following heavy rain across the south of the country.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.

The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.