Colombia’s Forensic Institute of Legal Medicine has received the bodies of 39 victims, casualties of the catastrophic landslide along the Medellín-Quibdó road on Friday afternoon. The toll, confirmed by Medicina Legal, reveals that 33 of the victims have been positively identified, with 23 already returned to grieving families and relatives.
The calamity occured in a remote and mountainous region near the municipality of El Carmen de Atrato in the Chocó department after days of relentless rainfall. Reports from the natural disaster indicate that several vehicles had stopped along the road given another landslide nearby and were buried beneath the debris. A house where approximately 60 people sought refuge from the rains was also destroyed. The aftermath has left some 20 persons injured, while authorities continue to locate and identify an estimated 10 missing persons.
Four days since the Chocó landslide, Colombia’s Vice President Francia Márquez visited Quibdó to extend support to the affected families of the landslide. This visit followed President Gustavo Petro’s declaration of a state of natural disaster, affording the government the ability to “transfer funds” for immediate response to the emergency. President Petro highlighted the longstanding neglect of this road, exacerbated by Chocó being one of the nation’s most impoverished departments.
Pope Francis called for prayers for the victims of the Chocó landslide on Sunday, speaking the Angelus from the window of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The Pontiff, who recently came down with a bout of bronchitis, highlighted the need for collective prayers for those affected by the scourge of war in various regions worldwide, including Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel.
