At least 52 people have been instantly killed by a massive landslide that hit the northwest town of Salgar in Colombia early Monday morning. About 37 locals have been injured, as rescuers continue to look for survivors. Authorities have yet to determine the number of people who have not been accounted for, according to CNN.
The landslide hit the municipality at around 3 a.m. while many of the residents were sleeping. Heavy rains continued to pour the night before and the "rush of mud and water tore down everything in its path," said Mayor Olga Osorio via a local radio program, according to Yahoo News.
Santa Margarita, a small town in Salgar, has been "wiped off the map," the mayor added.
"People were just screaming everywhere, and I ran to help, but the river was impassable, and all the bridges were covered," said one survivor, Leon Dario Restrepo, according to CNN.
"We ran outside to the road and went into the chapel, and the lights went out and we were in the dark. Then we looked with flashlights and saw that everything was gone," recounts another survivor.
Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, has already been in the area and met with officials from the local government to assess the situation. He has been posting updates on site through his Twitter account.
As affected areas still have no access to clean water or gas, rescue workers, humanitarian groups and the Red Cross have been actively on the scene to help survivors.
The municipality of Salgar has a population of 17,000, according to ABC. The country's tropical climate and mountainous regions make Colombia susceptible to landslides. A few years ago, a landslide killed over 1,374 individuals and displaced 100,000 homes, accoridng to ABC.
