SANTA CATARINA PINULA, GUATE-MALA (Reuters) – Rescue workers scrabbled through earth and rubble yesterday in search of survivors of a massive landslide in Guatemala that killed at least 59 people, even as hopes began to fade for hundreds of others still missing.
Diggers plowed into the mounds of earth that destroyed homes in Santa Catarina Pinula on the southeastern flank of Guatemala City looking for about 350 people who authorities said were still unaccounted for after Thursday night’s disaster.
Loosened by rain, tons of earth, rock and trees cascaded onto part of the town from the hillside above, flattening houses and trapping residents who had gone home for the night. “As the hours go by, we are losing hope,” said Irving Vargas, 48, a local fireman helping the rescue effort. “We haven’t pulled anyone out alive in quite a while.”
Clutching photos of loved ones, families of victims stood in line outside a makeshift morgue near the excavation site, some of them crying, to see if they recognized any corpses.
Ana Maria Escobar, a 48-year-old housewife, sobbed as she waited for news of 21 missing family members who lived in the town that she had left only a year ago.
“This is the worst thing that has happened to us,” she said. “So far only my sister-in-law has been found.” At last count, the Attorney General’s office reported 59 dead via Twitter, though fears that hundreds more remain trapped threaten to make the landslide one of the worst natural disasters to hit Central America in recent years.
Among the dead were 17 children, and there were at least 26 people reported as injured. Cleaning lady Mariselda Perez, 24, waited anxiously with her mother for news of her 17-year-old brother, a mechanic, who lived in Santa Catarina close to some uncles. “The uncles were able to get out and save themselves. (My brother’s) house was at the back and that’s why he couldn’t escape,” she said
