Rescue teams have recovered 370 bodies after a landslide swept through a remote village in Sudan’s Darfur region, according to a local civilian official.
The disaster struck the village of Tarsin, located in Jebel Marra, last Sunday following heavy rainfall during the country’s wet season, which peaks in August.
UN estimates suggest that as many as 1,000 people may have been killed, though the full scale of the disaster in the isolated mountainous area remains unclear.
Ibrahim Suleiman, a traditional administration official in Daramo locality in Jebel Marra, said: “After the disaster, we found 370 bodies, which were buried.”
He added that “the rest are still under the rocks, and some were swept away by the water,” in a video released by the Sudan Liberation Army Movement.
Earlier, Mujeeb al-Rahman Mohamed al-Zubair, head of the civilian authority in areas controlled by the Sudan Liberation Army, had said: “So far, 270 bodies of victims have been recovered and buried.”
He told Agence France-Presse in a phone call via satellite from Jebel Marra that “hundreds are still under the rubble that covered homes and large areas of farmland.”
Large numbers of livestock also perished under the mud, and water sources were damaged, he said.
Al-Zubair added: “So far, no humanitarian organization has arrived.” He explained that rescue efforts are being carried out by local residents and the Sudan Liberation Army with limited resources.
He said that when he reached the village on Wednesday, “I found the disaster to be greater than I had imagined.”
