UN says Ethiopia landslide death toll could reach 500

The death toll from landslides in a remote region of southern Ethiopia has risen to 257, the United Nations said Thursday and the number could soar up to 500.

Rescuers pressed on with the grim search for bodies and survivors in Kencho Shacha Gozdi, with crowds of distraught people digging through mud, often using just their bare hands and shovels.

Solomon Tsoma told AFP that 13 of his family had died, including his uncle's seven children his brother's infants. "We have recovered 12 bodies but haven't been able to find my sister's body," he said.

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA gave the new toll of 257 dead, citing local authorities. "The death toll is expected to rise to up to 500 people," it added.

OCHA said more than 15,000 people need to be evacuated because of the risk of further landslides, including at least 1,320 children under the age of five and 5,293 pregnant women or new mothers.

Aid has begun arriving in the isolated area, including four trucks of supplies from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, it said.

The landslide is the deadliest on record in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation which is often battered by climate-related disasters.

- Bodies wrapped in shrouds -

Officials said most of the victims were buried when they rushed to help after the first landslide, which followed heavy rains Sunday in the area roughly 480 kilometres (270 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.

Resident Getachew Geza said he and his son rushed to help after hearing two houses had been buried. "When we got there ...a massive mudslide overwhelmed everyone, including my son."

In one graphic scene shown on social media by the local authority, dozens of men surrounded a pit where human limbs were exposed in the mud.

Other villagers carried bodies on makeshift stretchers while in a nearby tent women wailed as they sat near a row of bodies wrapped in shrouds being prepared for burial.

OCHA said 12 people who sustained injuries had been taken to a local hospital, while at least 125 are displaced. The number of missing is not known.

- Guterres 'deeply saddened' -

UN chief Antonio Guterres sent his condolences over the disaster, with his spokesman Stephane Dujarric saying he was "deeply saddened".

"UN agencies are dispatching food, nutrition, health and other critical supplies to help people affected by the landslides," Dujarric said.

Senait Solomon, head of communications for the South Ethiopia regional government, told AFP on Wednesday that the landslide site was sloped and "prone to disasters", adding that conservation work to protect the area, including tree planting, had been under way at the time of the landslides.

More than 21 million people or about 18 percent of the population rely on humanitarian aid in Ethiopia as a result of conflict, flooding, drought and other natural disasters.

OCHA said this week that that a similar landslide in May in the same area killed more than 50 people.

Seasonal rains in South Ethiopia state between April and early May had caused flooding, mass displacement and damage to livelihoods and infrastructure, it had said in May.

In 2017, at least 113 people died when a mountain of garbage collapsed in a dump in the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

The deadliest landslide in Africa was in Sierra Leone's capital in Freetown in August 2017, when 1,141 people perished.

Mudslides in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people in February 2010.