‘National Tragedy’ Devastates Guatemala
Guatemala Undergoing First Phase of Collapse
At least 22 people were killed with dozens more missing, feared dead, when a large landslide buried a crowd trying to dig out a bus from mud.
Large areas of the country are flooded following the heaviest rains in living memory; many roads and bridges have been washed away.
About 500 bridges across Guatemala, including the main bridge that links the country to Honduras, have been destroyed or damaged.
Dozens of separate landslides, including several major occurrences have closed down at least 100km (65 miles) of the Inter-American Highway, killing dozens of people, with dozens more missing.
“A wall of earth fell on a bus and around 100 local people organized themselves to dig out the victims,” according to fire department spokesman Sergio Vasquez. “Then another landslide came along and buried them.”
President Alvaro Colom declared a state of emergency and said: “It’s a national tragedy.”
The weekend death toll from about a dozen different landslides stands at 45, but it is expected to rise considerably.
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