Death toll in Uganda landslides rises to 20 as search continues

More bodies buried under the mud were retrieved in eastern Uganda on Friday and an injured person died in a hospital, bringing the death toll from this week's landslides to 20, officials said as search efforts pressed on in the stricken area.

Heavy rains had triggered the landslides that engulfed six villages in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, 280 kilometers (175 miles) east of Kampala, Uganda's capital, on Wednesday night. Some 125 houses were destroyed.

The Uganda Red Cross Society spokesperson Irene Kasiita told reporters that bodies of four more people were found on Friday while a fifth person, one of the injured in the landslides, died at Mbale Hospital.

The society in a statement said 750 people had been displaced, with 216 of those living temporarily at a neighboring school while others were being housed by relatives.

The Bulambuli Resident District Commissioner Faheera Mpalanyi said soldiers have been deployed to help with the digging.

“More bodies are still buried under the heaps of soils and stones and we are trying as much as we can to recover them,” she said.

Local officials told a journalist in the area on Thursday that an excavator would be brought to assist in the rescue efforts, but the roads were covered in mud and rain was still falling. The impacted area is about 50 acres with homesteads and farmlands spread downhill.

Lawmaker Irene Muloni from the Bulambuli district said Thursday the government would help relocate residents from the landslide-prone area.

“Waterfalls are everywhere, and the rainfall is excessive,” she said, urging everyone who had lost their home to seek refuge with relatives and “leave this dangerous place.”