Death toll reaches 40 in Ugandan landslides

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

Regional information officer Ken Mabisi said the Red Cross and other volunteers are still digging for bodies in the Bulambuli district.

He said the Red Cross has also started distributing essential household items to some surrounding communities whose crops and houses were destroyed by yesterday’s landslides.

The government earlier said 29 people were killed.

The landslides followed heavy rainfall in the Bulambuli district, 167 miles east of Kampala.

Last year more than 300 people were killed by landslides in the Bududa district.

Two weeks ago seven people were killed by landslides in Uganda’s north-eastern Karamoja region.