Landslide kills over 1,000 in western Sudan village, rebel group says
The landslide struck on August 31 after days of heavy rainfall, the group led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour said in a statement
At least 1,000 were killed in a landslide that destroyed a village in the Marra Mountains area of western Sudan, leaving only one survivor, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army said on Monday.
The landslide struck on August 31 after days of heavy rainfall, the group led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The movement, which controls the area located in the Darfur region, appealed to the United Nations and international aid agencies to help recover the bodies of victims, including men, women and children.
The village "has now been completely levelled to the ground," the movement added.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Fleeing the raging war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in North Darfur state, residents sought shelter in the Marra Mountains area, where food and medication are insufficient.
According to news agencies, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) issued a statement late on Monday reporting the disaster in the Marra Mountains area of Darfur, reports Al Jazeera.
"Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than one thousand individuals, with only one survivor," the group said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.
SLM/A also appealed to the United Nations and international aid agencies for assistance in recovering the bodies of victims, including children.
Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Khartoum, said sources told him about the difficulty in getting help in retrieving bodies of people who have been buried following the landslide and giving them a proper burial.
"That's going to take a long time, and maybe it won't even take place if there are no international teams that are specialised in these types of activities," he said.
The affected area cannot be reached by car or any other means of land transport, which is why people often seek shelter in this mountainous region in times of war, Vall added.
"Those villages are actually many in number and are crowded with people. Some of them are displaced from other parts of Darfur."
The two-year civil war has left more than half the population facing crisis levels of hunger and driven millions from their homes, with the capital of North Darfur state, Al-Fashir, being under fire.
