Rescuers in Ecuador are still searching for more than 60 people reported missing after a landslide in the southern part of the country caused by months of heavy rain killed at least seven people.
According to officials, the mudslide occurred at night on Sunday into Monday, submerging dozens of homes and injuring 23 people in the village of Alausi in Chimborazo province.
Residents were shocked and in tears as crews with shovels, pick axes, and sniffer dogs dug through the wreckage to find survivors trapped in sheets of bent steel and split stumps.
Manuel Upai, a 40-year-old labourer, told AFP that Five of his relatives are buried under the mud and water.
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Alausi is a town with over 45,000 people surrounded by grassy hills and was also struck by an avalanche, which destroyed roadways and forced the closure of three schools.
Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso announced on Twitter that firefighters from surrounding areas had been dispatched to the hamlet to assist those impacted by the tragedy.
He urged everyone to leave the affected regions to assist with the rescue attempts, and the government mobilized the country's police, armed forces, health ministry, and the Red Cross.
"We have activated temporary accommodation and mobilized sleeping kits for those that have lost their homes," said a government statement on Twitter.
Heavy rains are very common in Ecuador, but the amount of rainfall has increased since late last year, leaving over 22 people dead and destroying over 6000 residences.
The landslide on Sunday occurred just over a week after a strong earthquake struck Ecuador's southwestern border area with Peru, killing 15 people.
Local officials assigned a magnitude of 6.5 to the earthquake, which caused 22 landslides in the neighbouring provinces of El Oro and Azuay.
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