A landslide in eastern Uganda has killed at least 55 people with hundreds more missing.
Ugandan media said the landslide engulfed a village in the eastern Bududa district on the foothills of Mount Elgon on Monday night after a seven-hour downpour.
‘55 bodies have already been recovered,’ Tarsis Kabwegyere, Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, said.
‘About 300 people are feared buried by the landslide and the landslides are expected to continue as the rains intensify in the region.’
An eyewitness who spent the morning at the village said 55 bodies had been recovered so far.
‘There's a lot of panic on the ground because people still hear cracking up in the mountains and huge stones rolling downwards,’ he told Reuters.
Mr Kabwegyere said a government response team was on the ground with food and the Red Cross had sent doctors. Police and volunteers were also helping in the rescue.
Parts of Uganda and neighbouring Kenya have sustained heavy rainfall over much of the past two months, which is usually a dry period between rainy seasons.
