Tanzania: At least 47 dead in landslide after heavy rains

12/3/2023, 9:55:09 PM

Highlights: Tanzania: At least 47 dead in landslide after heavy rains. An unprecedented drought was followed by weeks of heavy rainfall in East Africa. At Mount Hanang in northern Tanzania, a landslide was triggered, killing at least 47 people. Houses have been torn away and numerous roads have been blocked by mud, stones, water and fallen trees. The authorities fear that more bodies will be found during the clean-up work. After a drought unprecedented in decades, East Africa has been hit by torrential rains and floods for weeks.

An unprecedented drought was followed by weeks of heavy rainfall in East Africa. At Mount Hanang in northern Tanzania, a landslide was triggered, killing at least 47 people.

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Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan (here at the UN Climate Conference) ordered the dispatch of relief supplies

Photograph:

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

After a landslide on Tanzania's fourth-highest mountain, Mount Hanang, dozens of deaths are feared, according to local media reports. Jambo TV reported at least 47 dead and 85 injured. A huge landslide reached the village of Katesh in the north of the country in the early hours of the morning. Houses have been torn away and numerous roads have been blocked by mud, stones, water and fallen trees, making rescue work difficult. The authorities fear that more bodies will be found during the clean-up work.

The Tanzanian Red Cross released images from the area of about 10,000 people, where a mud river had half buried cars. People tried to move their belongings from destroyed houses to safety. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan ordered the dispatch of relief supplies to support those affected.

The landslide on the 3420,300-meter-high Mount Hanang was preceded by heavy rain in the region around the city of Katesh, about <> kilometers north of the capital Dodoma.

After a drought unprecedented in decades, East Africa has been hit by torrential rains and floods for weeks in the context of the El Niño weather phenomenon. Hundreds of people have already lost their lives.

czl/dpa/AFP