Ethiopia landslide kills at least 146

The death toll from a landslide in a remote area of southern Ethiopia has risen to at least 146, a local official said Tuesday, warning that the number could rise.

The disaster occurred at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Monday following heavy rains in Gofa, a mountainous area of South Ethiopia regional state.

"The number of dead from the sudden landslide that happened in Geze-Gofa district of Gofa zone has passed 146," a statement from the Gofa zone Communications Affairs Department said, quoting local official Habtamu Fetena.

Habtamu said the bodies of 96 men and 50 women had been found, adding that the search was "continuing vigorously" and warning that the number of dead could increase.

The local authority had given a death toll of 55 on Monday but there is scant information about the disaster due to the remoteness of the region.

Images shared on Facebook by the local authority on Monday showed large crowds of people near a devastating scene of tumbled red soil.

The photographs showed people using their bare hands to dig through the dirt in search of survivors, with no sign of official rescue services.

- Vulnerable to climate disasters -

Gofa zone is roughly 450 kilometres (270 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa, a drive of about 10 hours, and is located north of the Maze National Park.

"The area of the disaster is rural, remote and very mountainous," an Ethiopian refugee living in Kenya who said he is from a district neighbouring Geze-Gofa told AFP.

"The soil in that area isn't strong, so when heavy rains and landslides happen the soil immediately runs down to the ground below."

Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa with around 120 million people, is highly vulnerable to climate disasters including flooding and drought.

The South Ethiopia regional state has been battered by the short seasonal rains between April and early May that have caused flooding and mass displacement, according to the UN's humanitarian response agency OCHA.

It said in May that "floods impacted over 19,000 people in several zones, displacing over a thousand and causing damage to livelihoods and infrastructure".

The southern region area has experienced tragic landslides previously, with at least 32 people killed in 2018 after two separate landslides within a week of each other.