20 landslide victims found

RESCUE workers in Colombia recovered 20 bodies yesterday, but said more than 100 people remained missing feared dead after a landslide buried a poor city suburb in tons of sodden soil.

The landslide in Medellin was triggered by Colombia’s worst rain in at least 40 years, which has driven thousands from their homes and damaged coffee and flower crops.

Thirty brick homes were buried by at least 1.7 million cubic feet of earth, said John Rendon, disaster co-ordinator for Antioquia state, where the suburb of Bello is located.

“The weather was good yesterday, and also today, but the soil is saturated and it gave,” he said.