Death Toll in Guatemala Mudslide Reaches 56

More than 300 people are still missing
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 3, 2015 4:14 PM CDT
Death Toll in Guatemala Mudslide Reaches 56
Rescue workers search for survivors after a landslide hit Cambray, a neighborhood in the suburb of Santa Catarina Pinula, about 10 miles east of Guatemala City, Friday, Oct. 2, 2015. The hill that towers over Cambray collapsed late Thursday after heavy rains, burying several houses with dirt, mud and...   (Moises Castillo)

A Guatemalan emergency official says the number of people killed when a hillside collapsed Friday on more than 100 homes has risen to 56. Julio Sanchez, a spokesperson for Guatemala's volunteer firefighters, says officials estimate that 350 people remain missing. The previous death toll was 30 and estimates of the number of missing had been as high as 600. Rescue specialists from the Red Cross and fire and police departments were using dogs to search for possible survivors in the mudslide zone on the outskirts of Guatemala City, where tons of earth fell over some 125 homes, authorities from the region estimate. (More Guatemala stories.)

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