Dozens of people died as a bus buried under a Colombian mudslide

The Colombian president announced that more than 27 people died due to a landslide on a road in the province of Risaralda, the western part of the country.

Following heavy rainfall mud and rocks tumbled down the fill side and a bus full of passengers was among several vehicles buried under it. One of the passengers managed to help his two children and wife to escape from the bus before he was buried and died. According to President Gustavo Petro, at least three were children among those killed. The road leading to the northern province of Chocó and this landslide happened on Sunday early morning as per the local time.

Witnesses said that a motorcycle a jeep and an intercity bus had stopped on the road due to a car accident further ahead when the mud and rocks from the hillside collapsed on top of them. Possibly the bus and two drivers and 25 passengers when it set off but more passengers might have boarded along the way.

Around nine people survived the landslide. Landslides are very common in Colombia during the rainy season, and mountain roads are often cut off by rocks and mud.