DPA
Kampala
Around three weeks after a severe landslide in Uganda, the number of confirmed deaths has risen to 40, a regional official said on Saturday.
At the end of November, around 40 houses were buried under mud and debris in the Bulambuli region in eastern Uganda after heavy rainfall. "We assume that up to 100 people were buried alive,” Faheera Mpalanyi, the commissioner responsible for Bulambuli told DPA.
Rescue work is ongoing, but severely hampered by destroyed roads and bridges, she said. Mpalanyi said the authorities assume no more survivors will be found.
More than 2,500 people affected by the incident are being housed in makeshift camps, she said. The damage from the landslide was particularly severe on the southern slopes of Mount Elgon, on the Kenyan border.
Uganda is often hit by heavy rains which cause accidents, particularly in its mountainous regions.