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10 dead, more than 250 missing in mudslide

 
Published Oct. 30, 2014

Tragedy in Sri Lanka

10 dead, over 250 missing in mudslide

A mudslide triggered by monsoon rains buried scores of workers' houses at a tea plantation in central Sri Lanka on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and leaving more than 250 missing, an official said.

The military mobilized troops to help with the rescue operation as rain continued to fall in the island nation's central hills. Mud covered some of the destroyed homes to their roofs, and water gushing down hillsides indicated more slides were possible.

P. Arumugam, who works as a driver on the plantation, said he rushed to the site when he heard about the mudslide.

"Everything that I saw yesterday I could not see today — buildings, the temple and shops had all disappeared. I could only see mud everywhere," he said.

The mudslide struck about 7:30 a.m. and wiped out 120 workers' homes at the Koslanda tea plantation in Badulla district, about 140 miles east of Colombo, said Lal Sarath Kumara, an official from the Disaster Management Center.

By early afternoon, rescue workers had recovered 10 bodies that had been buried by the mudslide, Kumara said. More than 250 other people were missing, he said.

Anxious in Turkey

Rescuers trying to save 18 trapped miners

Rescue workers desperately pumped water out of a coal mine in southern Turkey and anxious relatives huddled nearby Wednesday after surging waters trapped 18 Turkish miners deep underground.

After canceling some festivities for a national holiday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu both visited the town of Ermenek in Karaman province, where the Has Sekerler mine is located, close to Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Turkish officials say the workers' chances of survival are slim unless they managed to reach a safety gallery at the coal mine.

Times wires