BELLO, Colombia, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Trained rescue dogs and heavy machinery are aiding hundreds of rescue workers trying to dig out those buried in mud from landslides in Colombia, officials say.
The mudslide in Bello, near Medellin, resulted from the La Nina heavy rains that have flooded large areas of the country, killed at least 175 people and affected nearly 2 million people, Colombia Reports said. Rescue workers told the Colombian newspaper El Nuevo Dia a landslide in Bello buried homes in rubble and mud.
Another Colombian newspaper, La Tarde, reported 20 bodies were recovered in Bello, with "700 people working: 250 Army, 300 police and 200 other volunteers" in a coordinated rescue effort.
Another newspaper, La Opinion, reported more than 300 rescuers were working their way through the inundated homes. One body had been recovered, seven people had been rescued alive and the official count was 86 people missing, the newspaper said.
Britain's Sky News reported a relief official estimated many more could be missing.
"The initial count is that there may be 150 to 200 people considered missing," said Cesar Uruena, a Red Cross operations deputy director. "The landslide buried 10 houses, each of them with three stories. Because on Sundays people usually have their family over for lunch, we think that on average there were between 15 and 20 people in each house."
Although some progress was being made, Government Secretary Diego Munoz said he was "pessimistic" about the hope of finding people alive because the buildings are constructed on two or three levels and have 212,000 cubic feet of dirt on top of them, La Nueva Dia reported.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos inspected the damage caused by high waters in the northern Atlantico region Sunday. Santos said international aid was arriving but acknowledged "we need more."
He called on Colombians to do what they can to help the flood victims and said the government was considering allocating more money to help those hit by the floods and landslides.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has blamed the flooding that has killed 32 and left 70,000 in his country on "criminal capitalism," the New York Daily News reported.
"The developed nations irresponsibly shatter the environmental order, in their desire to maintain a criminal development model while the immense majority of the earth's people suffer the most terrible consequences," Chavez said on Venezuelan television Sunday.
