Mexican landslide rescue gets under way

A HILLSIDE collapsed on hundreds of sleeping residents yesterday in a rural Mexican community drenched for days by a hurricane and a tropical storm, killing at least seven and leaving at least 100 missing, disaster officials said.

The death toll could rise much higher in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, a town about 220 km south-east of Mexico City. Oaxaca state Civil Protection operations coordinator Luis Marin said 100 people were confirmed missing, but Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz told the Televisa television network 500 to 1,000 people could be buried.

At least 100 homes were buried, and residents who made it out have had no success digging out their neighbours, said Donato Vargas, an official in Santa Maria de Tlahuitoltepec reached by a satellite telephone. “We have been using a backhoe but there is a lot of mud. We can’t even see the homes, we can’t hear shouts, we can’t hear anything,” he said.