More than 150 dead after heavy rains trigger mudslides in Ethiopia

At least 157 people have been killed in mudslides in a remote part of Ethiopia that has been hit with heavy rainfall.

Many of those killed had been trying to rescue survivors of an earlier mudslide, local authorities said on Tuesday.

Young children and pregnant women were among the victims of the mudslides in the Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia, said Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator.

The death toll was 55 late on Monday, but had risen to 157 on Tuesday as search operations continued in the area, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the Gofa Zone communications office. Gofa Zone is the administrative area where the mudslides occurred.

Most of the victims were buried in a mudslide on Monday morning as rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors of another mudslide the previous day.

At least five people have been pulled alive from the mud, local authorities said.

Another official in Gofa, Markos Melese, said many of the rescuers who were covered in mud as they tried to save other remain unaccounted for.

Photos taken on Tuesday showed people desperately digging through the earth and pulling out bodies.

"We are still searching for the missing," said Mr Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone.

"There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister, due to the accident," he said.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia's rainy reason, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.