Three children were killed Thursday by a landslide that buried a rural school in the coffee-growing town of Andes in northwestern Colombia, authorities confirmed.
The landslide hit a group of preschool and first-grade children who were taking recess along with a teacher and the mother of one of the students.
Dozens of villagers helped rescuers from the military in the effort to save the children.
Video footage shared on social media showed dozens of people with shovels trying to remove a heap of felled trees and rubble. Two digging machines were also deployed.
The school’s sole instructor, Eliana Rincones, told journalists that there were 22 students present at the time of the avalanche.
“Fortunately, 17 pupils survived as did the instructor and the mother,” Mayor of Andes, Carlos Osorio said, adding that two more minors who were trapped in the rubble are now “stable” at a nearby hospital.
The landslide was caused by the periodic La Nina weather phenomena, which has plagued much of Colombia.
The meteorological institute, says the rains are expected to persist through September.
[wonderplugin_video iframe=”https://youtu.be/9yg1Teqwtpc” lightbox=0 lightboxsize=1 lightboxwidth=960 lightboxheight=540 autoopen=0 autoopendelay=0 autoclose=0 lightboxtitle=”” lightboxgroup=”” lightboxshownavigation=0 showimage=”” lightboxoptions=”” videowidth=600 videoheight=400 keepaspectratio=1 autoplay=0 loop=0 videocss=”position:relative;display:block;background-color:#000;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;margin:0 auto;” playbutton=”https://www.tvcnews.tv/wp-content/plugins/wonderplugin-video-embed/engine/playvideo-64-64-0.png”]
