Landslide kills 10 in Burundi
Xinhua, March 30, 2015 Adjust font size:
More than 10 persons were killed and eight others injured in a landslide following heavy rains at a village near Lake Tanganyika in the southern province of Rumonge.
Administrator of Muhuta commune Jonathan Nkeshimana told Xinhua that the incident occurred around 4 p.m. local time on Sunday and an unknown number of others went missing in the landslide which destroyed bridges and more than 600 houses in the area, leaving thousands homeless.
Nkeshimana indicated that two schools, a clinic and a church were also destroyed during the incident.
He said that hectares of cassava and banana crops were also swept away.
He continued that a distance of at least 5 km of the road is covered by the rocks and stones, obstructing since Sunday night the traffic on the Bujumbura-Rumonge road.
According to Nkeshimana, at least 40 vehicles have been deployed to the area to remove the rocks and stones from the road, adding that in three or four days, the road will be re-opened to traffic.
Meanwhile, passengers and people living in the area use boats, via Lake Tanganyika, to reach the other side of the road to take passenger cars parked there. Endi