Sri Lanka: hundreds of families missing after landslide buries three villages

The Guardian - Rescuers in Sri Lanka have started the grim task of looking for more than 200 families missing following a massive landslide in remote Aranayake area, on the slopes of the Central Hills.

The Sri Lankan Red Cross said that the landslide, which struck during the night on 17 May, buried three villages following heavy rains over the last three days.

Red Cross officials said that they suspected that at least 220 families were missing going by government population records. However, government officials were reluctant to confirm the figure.

“I can only tell you that we have recovered 15 bodies from two locations,” Pradeep Kodippili spokesperson for the Disaster Management Center said. In total, 27 people had died across the country due to the severe weather and flooding, officials said.

Red Cross officials said that rescued operations had been hampered because reaching the mountainous area, some 140km from the capital Colombo, was treacherous.

Torrential rains across Sri Lanka have forced more than 137,000 people from their homes and killed at least 11.