Death toll in Uganda landslides rises to 20 as search for casualties presses on

Heavy rains triggered the landslides which engulfed six villages in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, 280 kilometres (175 miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital, on Wednesday night.

Some 125 houses were destroyed.

The Uganda Red Cross Society spokeswoman Irene Kasiita told reporters that the bodies of four more people were found on Friday while a fifth person, one of the injured in the landslides, died at Mbale Hospital.

The society in a statement said 750 people had been displaced, with 216 of those living temporarily at a neighbouring school while others were being housed by relatives.

The Bulambuli Resident District Commissioner Faheera Mpalanyi said soldiers have been deployed to help with the digging.

“More bodies are still buried under the heaps of soils and stones and we are trying as much as we can to recover them,” she said.

Local officials told a journalist in the area on Thursday that an excavator would be brought to assist in the rescue efforts, but the roads were covered in mud and rain was still falling.

The impacted area is about 50 acres with homesteads and farmlands spread downhill.

Legislator Irene Muloni from the Bulambuli district said on Thursday that the government would help relocate residents from the landslide-prone area.

“Waterfalls are everywhere, and the rainfall is excessive,” she said, urging everyone who had lost their home to seek refuge with relatives and “leave this dangerous place”.