The death toll in a landslide in northern Peru has risen to eight with the recovery of a young child's body, officials said Sunday.

"With deep regret, I want to inform you that we have recovered the body of a child under three years of age in the town of Retamas," said Defense Minister Jose Luis Gavidia.

At least three other victims of Tuesday's landslide were children, Gavidia said earlier.

Civil defense officials said search operations were called off Sunday, with the bodies of all eight missing people now recovered, and workers were turning to clean-up operations.

The landslide in Retamas, a remote mining town around 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Lima, buried a half-dozen homes.

Several bodies were found in a market in the path of an avalanche of mud provoked when a hillside collapsed in torrential rains.

This was not Retamas's first brush with tragedy. A 2009 landslide killed 13 people.

Such landslides are common in the Andean regions of Peru and other South American countries where towns often rise on risky hillsides.

cm/dg/bbk/mlm

Twitter

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Rescuers find three bodies after Peru landslide
Retamas, Peru (AFP) March 17, 2022
Rescuers digging through a landslide in northern Peru said Wednesday they had recovered three dead bodies, including a one-month-old baby. A landslide Tuesday in the town of Retamas, around 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Lima, buried several homes and trapped at least eight people, five of whom are still missing, authorities said. "We were able to recover the body of a third person, a 62-year-old man," Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Valderrama, the village's chief of police, told AFP. Hours ... read more