Frantic hunt for hundreds missing in Uganda mudslide

UGANDA: Rescuers clawed through mud in driving rain Wednesday in a desperate bid to find survivors from a huge landslide feared to have killed hundreds in villages in eastern Uganda.

At least 80 bodies have already been found on the slopes of Mount Elgon and at least 300 people are missing in the villages, according to the Ugandan Red Cross, but hopes are fading of finding more survivors and aid agencies fear the toll could mount.

"We have found some cows, and some remains of houses, but we have not found a body since morning," Kevin Nabtua, the head of the Red Cross in eastern Uganda, told AFP.

Rescuers working with shovels and under torrential rain had little hope of cutting through the huge collapsed land mass, she explained.

"It is difficult. The appeal we are making now would be for equipment, like a tractor," Nabtua said.

But Relief Minister Tarsis Kabwegyere said the remote location of the disaster and the steep terrain made bringing heavy excavating equipment "just not realistic". In Geneva, the UN refugee agency raised fears the casualty toll could climb.

"We fear that the total number of displaced and dead people could increase as government-led assessment teams reach more affected areas," the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

"The situation is really very terrible," said Bududa district vice chairman Geofrey Natubu. "People fear there are actually 300 who have died."

Inclement weather has worsened matters, Natubu said. Bududa, Thursday, AFP