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Hillside collapses on the outskirts of Guatemala City...
Guatemalan mudslide death toll reaches 56, hundreds missing
Oct 3,`15 -- Rescue workers using shovels and pickaxes recovered more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed hillside on the outskirts of Guatemala City on Saturday as an official said the death toll had risen to 56 with another 350 people believed missing.
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Hope fading, rescuers dig for survivors in Guatemala landslide
Sat Oct 3, 2015 - Rescue workers scrabbled through earth and rubble on Saturday 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.
Guatemalan mudslide death toll reaches 56, hundreds missing
Oct 3,`15 -- Rescue workers using shovels and pickaxes recovered more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed hillside on the outskirts of Guatemala City on Saturday as an official said the death toll had risen to 56 with another 350 people believed missing.
Julio Sanchez, spokesman for Guatemala's volunteer firefighters, said the death toll will likely continue to rise as emergency crews dig through tons of earth that buried some 125 homes Thursday night in Cambray, a neighborhood in the suburb of Santa Catarina Pinula. Earlier estimates had said that 600 people could be missing. Despite the passing time, emergency services coordinator Sergio Cabanas said rescuers "still have hope of finding people alive if we just keep searching."
Welsar Nazario carries the coffin of his five-month-old nephew Alezandro Macario, who died in a mudslide, to the Santa Catarina Pinula cemetery on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015. Rescue workers recovered more bodies early Saturday after a hillside collapsed on homes on Thursday night, while more are feared still buried in the rubble.
At the site, workers with dogs labored without rest, halting only when a long whistle sounded, testing if anyone was still alive under the mud and debris. "We're from the rescue unit," one worker announced. "If there is someone there, please make some noise or yell." When no response was heard, two more long whistles sounded, a sign that the workers should continue digging. Cabanas said he had been contacted by several people who reported receiving messages on their cellphones from family members trapped under the rubble. He said authorities had not seen the reported text messages, but had asked local telephone companies to try to map out the places where the messages were sent from.
Highlighting the horror faced by rescuers, Sanchez said that officials had arrived at the death toll of 56 by counting body parts, such as heads and torsos. Later Saturday, hopes began to fade among rescue workers. "Given the time that has passed, the truth is there is little hope" of finding survivors, said Ines de Leon or the Volunteer Firefighters Rescue Brigade of Retalhuleu province. "Only a miracle can save them." Among those mourning the loss of their relatives on Saturday was Nehemias Gonzalez, who seemed to have run out of tears. He lost his 21-year-old wife, Masiel Alexandra, and their 2-year-old child, Angel Efrain.
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See also:
Hope fading, rescuers dig for survivors in Guatemala landslide
Sat Oct 3, 2015 - Rescue workers scrabbled through earth and rubble on Saturday 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."
A woman shows the photograph of a missing relative at the site of a mudslide in Santa Catarina Pinula, on the outskirts of Guatemala City
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.
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