The death toll from landslides that buried homes in an eastern district of Uganda has risen to 40.

A hospital used by Ugandan schoolchildren to shelter from the heavy rains turned into a death trap as a landslide engulfed the building, leaving more than 50 pupils missing.

Landslides have swamped three villages in Uganda, killing at least 86 people and leaving hundreds missing after rivers of mud swept through a church and hospital, officials said today.