Venezuela Mudslides Kill One, Many Missing

Tue June 3, 2003 11:24 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - A baby girl was killed and several dozen people were reported missing in western Venezuela on Tuesday after mudslides and rockfalls caused by torrential rain destroyed several homes and blocked a main highway, civil defense officials said.

The heavy rains brought down torrents of mud and boulders, hitting hamlets and isolated homes in the mountainous Andean state of Merida and the neighboring state of Barinas.

"There were several mudslides," the director of Venezuela's Civil Protection Service, Antonio Rivero, told Reuters. He said at least 15 homes had been destroyed or damaged.

One rockslide cut the main trans-Andean highway between the state capitals of Merida and Barinas. Merida state governor Florencio Porras had declared a state of emergency, local television said.

Rivero said rescue workers had recovered the body of a one-year-old baby girl and were searching for more victims.

But information about casualties was sketchy because of the remoteness of the area where the mudslides had occurred.

Rivero said he had received initial reports of 14 people missing in Merida state and 37 missing in Barinas but he stressed authorities were not counting these as victims yet.

Local television put the number of missing between 35 and 40 and showed footage of homes and vehicles crushed by mud and rocks.

In December, 1999, at least 10,000 people were killed in massive mudslides triggered by torrential rain that swept through coastal towns and villages in the central Venezuelan states of Vargas and Miranda.