At least three people have been killed and up to a dozen injured after a landslide washed away an entire village in the Rumphi district of Northern Malawi, police said on Sunday.
Rumphi police spokesman, Tupeliwe Kabwilo, said that incessant rains in the region caused the disaster that devastated the village in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Police said that among the dead were two boys aged 12 and 15 and a 35-year-old woman. The missing persons, who are feared dead, include a one-year-old boy, two other boys aged six and 10 as well as two women aged 35 and 46.
A Rumphi district council official who was at the scene of the disaster while speaking to AFP said that that the affected area was inaccessible by road and it would be impossible to mount a rescue operation.
“Huge boulders rolled from the mountain and these are the ones that cause the biggest damage and if the missing victims are buried under these rocks, then we will need an excavator to move them.” said council official Wakisa Mtete.
“But there is no access by road to the area so this is an impossible task. The boulders are so big that moving them by hand is not possible,” Mtete said.
Alufeyo Mhango, a disaster management manager, confirmed to AFP that rescue operations were ongoing at the site.
