Guatemalan mudslide kills 35, injures 15

GUATEMALA: A massive landslide tore down the side of a mountain and buried a highway in northern Guatemala, killing nearly three dozen people and leaving rescue workers frantically digging for more victims Monday.

Vice President Rafael Espada said he feared the death toll could rise by at least a dozen more. At least 15 people were injured.

Authorities still do not know how many people were in the area when the landslide came thundering down Sunday, burying more than a kilometer (nearly a mile) of highway near the village of Aquil Grande.

At least 35 people were killed, said Hugo Arvizu, a spokesman for Guatemala's National Disaster Prevention Agency.

Leopoldo Ical, mayor of the nearby city of San Cristobal Verapaz, said at least 100 people were in the area, boarding or disembarking from buses. Many of the victims were laborers from nearby communities who worked on coffee plantations, he said.

GUATEMALA CITY, Tuesday, AP