Landslides In Ethiopia Soared To 229 People

UNSPLASH/Timo Volz ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The death toll from two landslides in southern Ethiopia jumped to 229 people.

The landslide buried people in the Gofa zone of the state of Southern Ethiopia on Sunday, July 21 evening. After that, the second landslide buried people who had gathered to help search on Monday, July 22 morning.

"I don't know when this disaster will stop. We are still looking for the body," Markos Melese, head of the National Disaster Response agency in the Gofa Zone, told Reuters by telephone, Tuesday, July 23.

"We're still digging," he said.

On Monday an official said 50 people were killed and children and police officers were among the dead.

Video footage shared by local authorities showed people digging up corpses with shovels and empty hands.

The death toll jumped after people who came to save were also trapped, said the Regent of Gofa, Mikir Mitiku.

"This is a very sad incident," he said.

President Abiy Ahmed said he was deeply saddened by the number of casualties, and federal officials had been deployed to reduce the impact of the disaster.

"We stand in strong solidarity with the Ethiopian community and government as rescue efforts continue to be carried out to find missing persons and help those who have lost their homes," wrote African Union Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat on social media platform X.

Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is an Ethiopian, said he was thinking about all the affected families.

The WHO team has been dispatched to support urgent health needs.