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At least 25 people were killed and 50 others are reported missing following a landslide in Venezuela on Sunday (October 9), CNN reports.
The natural disaster took place in the Santos Michelena municipality of the north central state of Aragua after days of heavy rainfall caused by Hurricane Julia led to streams overflowing, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said.
“There was a large landslide in the central area of Las Tejerías. We have already found 22 dead people, there are more than 52 missing,” Rodríguez told Venezolana de Televisión via the Associated Press on Sunday, prior to the rising death toll on Monday (October 10).
“There are still people walled in,” Rodríguez said at the time. “We are trying to rescue them, to rescue them alive.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that he'd ordered the "maximum deployment" of the interior ministry and security agencies as first responders in relation to the landslide.
Maduro also declared three days of national mourning “in solidarity with the families affected" in a tweet addressing the tragedy on Sunday.
Carlos Pérez, Venezuela's Deputy Minister for Risk Management and Civil Protection, announced that more than 1,000 officials from the National Risk Management System, as well as local police officers, were participating in search and rescue efforts following the devastation from the landslide.
Heavy rainfall led to rising water overflowing onto the Panmuca Bridge in Juigalpa, Nicaragua.