CARACAS – The death toll has risen to 50 from a devastating landslide that swept through a Venezuelan town near the capital Caracas, CNA quoted officials as saying.
“So far we officially have 50 people who unfortunately lost their lives and (their bodies) have been handed over to their relatives,” Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos told a local television channel, updating the earlier toll of 43.
Unusually heavy rains on Saturday had caused a major river and several streams to overflow in Las Tejerias, a town of about 50,000 people nestled in the mountains near Caracas.
The rains caused a torrent of mud that washed away cars, parts of homes, businesses and telephone wires, and felled massive trees.
About 3,200 people had been deployed to help the rescue and clean-up efforts in the town, Ceballos said.
President Nicolas Maduro said earlier in the week that the toll from Venezuela’s worst natural disaster in decades was likely to reach 100.
