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Landslide buries Peru village, 13 dead, 30 missing

AFP

At least 13 people were killed and more than 30 others were missing after a landslide buried a remote Peruvian mining village on Monday, government officials said.

"Seven people are buried and 13 have been confirmed dead" said Miguel Angel Sotomayor, the governor of the Ituata district, where the accident occurred.

The landslide took place early on Monday morning and was caused by heavy rain, officials said.

Sotomayor indicated site's remoteness may hamper the rescue effort.

"It is a very isolated area, there is no road to it," he said.

"We have to leave for there tonight so that we can arrive by tomorrow morning and survey the area," he told CPN, a local radio station, "because there is no road, we cannot count on the help of machinery."

The slide began between 6:00 and 7:00 am (1100 and 1200 GMT) and covered Huanchumay, a village located in a remote part of Carabaya province, about 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) southeast of the capital Lima.

It "has buried everything in its path" according to Carlos Martin, manager and legal adviser of the Huanchumay mine.

"There is no shelter. The whole town is covered with rocks," he told a local radio station.

Carabaya official Nancy Rossell, who was in Lima, told AFP she would ask the interior ministry to coordinate preliminary rescue efforts and to send a helicopter to the location of the accident, which is not accessible by road.

The village has only a small population of about 50 people, most of them miners.

Civil defense workers had previously placed the number of dead at 10.

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# SA says :
3 March, 2009 [ 17:40 ]

This is sad.  It shows nature's destructive force.  I pray that the authorities will be able to help everyone.

# Paul says :
3 March, 2009 [ 18:04 ]

Thoughts and prayers with all the victims and families.

# CaroleAnne Hooper says :
7 March, 2009 [ 12:57 ]

Yes, nature can be cruel in many ways. I live in Australia, we have had fires and flooding. Much devastation for many families here. My thoughts to families who have lost loved ones.

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