Sudan landslide wipes out village in Darfur, kills more than 1,000 people

CAIRO (AP) — A landslide wiped out an entire village in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, killing an estimated 1,000 people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in the African country’s recent history, a rebel group controlling the area said late Monday.

The village was “completely leveled to the ground,” the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army said as it appealed to the U.N. and international aid groups for help to recover the bodies.

The tragedy happened Sunday in the village of Tarasin in Central Darfur’s Marrah Mountains after days of heavy rainfall.

“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than 1,000 people, “ the rebel group said in a statement. ”Only one person survived,” it added.

Abdel-Wahid Nour, the group’s leader, made an appeal on Tuesday for international help. “The scale and magnitude of the disaster are immense and defy description,” he said.

The ruling Sovereign Council in Khartoum said it mourned “the death of hundreds of innocent residents” in the Marrah Mountains' landslide. In a statement, it said “all possible capabilities” have been mobilized to support the area.

Footage shared by the Marrah Mountains news outlet showed a flattened area between mountain ranges with a group of people searching the area.

Al-Amin Abdallah Abbas, a farmer from Ammo — a cluster of villages that includes Tarasin — said the area has seen weeks of heavy rainfall, with Tarasin among the worst hit. He said tribal and community leaders in nearby areas have mobilized efforts to recover and bury the victims.

“The village and its people disappeared," he said. “It's an unprecedented tragedy.”

Mohamed Abdel-Rahman al-Nair, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army, told The Associated Press that the village where the landslide took place is remote and accessible only by foot or donkeys.

Tarasin is located in the central Marrah Mountains, a volcanic area with a height of more than 9,840 feet at its summit. A World Heritage site, the mountain chain is known for its lower temperature and higher rainfall than surrounding areas, according to UNICEF. It’s located more than 560 miles west of the capital city, Khartoum.

Sunday’s landslide was one of the deadliest natural disasters in Sudan’s recent history. Hundreds of people die every year in seasonal rains that run from July to October. Last year’s heavy rainfall caused the collapse of a dam in the eastern Red Sea Province, killing at least 30 people, according to the U.N.