An avalanche of mud and water killed at least 26 people and left 30 unaccounted for when a river broke its banks and washed away mountainside homes near the Colombian town of Bello, authorities said today.
Civil defense and Red Cross rescue workers were trying to find survivors and bodies in the mud-choked wreckage of 15 homes, said the mayor's office in the Antioquia province town.
The dead from the Thursday night mudslide included an unspecified number of children. At least 20 people were injured.
Survivors, some clutching small children, wept in a nearby schoolhouse used as an emergency hostel where they gathered with their few remaining possessions.
"The river water carried stones and trunks of wood," said a local Roman Catholic priest, Adan Gasior. "The high ground was shaking and people were terrified. It's a tragedy and we have to pray to God for the dead and the disappeared."
Mudslides in Colombia are a regular occurrence at this time of year, when the wet season brings heavy rains with often fatal results for shanty homes built on sloping ground.
Bello is a gritty, slum-packed town on the outskirts of the city of Medellin.