SANTA CATARINA PINULA, GUATEMALA (Reuters) – Beneath the mud and rock that engulfed the small Guatemalan town of Santa Catarina Pinula last week, search crews have found entire families who died huddled together after they were buried alive.
At least 137 people were killed in Thursday’s disaster just outside Guatemala City, and emergency services chief Alejandro Maldonado said yesterday at least 300 people were still unaccounted for.
The Guatemalan Red Cross made an appeal on Twitter for dry ice at its provisional morgue in the town.
The mud that swallowed the El Cambray II neighbourhood in Santa Catarina Pinula, which lies at the bottom of a deep ravine, is so deep that rescue workers are descending 39 feet (12 metres) through narrow shafts to reach the roofs of homes.
“We’ve found entire families,” said Sergio Cabanas, an official at disaster agency Conred. “We found almost all of them huddled together, which means that they were going to try and evacuate but sadly they didn’t have time.”
“Some died from the impact, some from asphyxiation and some … from heart attacks,” he added.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by the precarious situation at the site, said Cabanas. There were two smaller landslides yesterday. A nearby river has risen by over 3 feet (one metre), and rescue workers fear for the stability of the hillside where the landslide began.
