At least 15 dead and more than 100 missing after landslides bury houses in eastern Uganda

At least 15 people have died and more than 100 are missing after landslides buried homes in several villages in eastern Uganda.

Some 15 people have been rescued and taken to hospital, police said.

At least 40 households were completely buried, the Uganda Red Cross Society said. It added that 13 bodies had been recovered.

Police said 113 people were missing.

The missing are from eight villages, according to a spokesperson for the Ugandan prime minister’s office, which oversees disaster response work. “We are shocked that it was this devastating,” Charles Odongtho said.

All bridges in the area had been washed away and the roads were inundated with water, he added.

Authorities expect the number killed might rise as high as 30, local media reported, with entire homes buried underneath the mud.

The disaster followed heavy rains on Wednesday night in the mountainous area of Bulambuli.

An excavator will be brought in to assist rescue efforts, local officials said.

Around 50 acres have been affected, with homesteads and farmhouses pushed downhill.

Large areas on Uganda’s mountain slopes have had their forests and other vegetation stripped to grow crops, which increases the risk of landslides.

The area hit by the landslide has seen similar disasters in the past, including an avalanche that killed at least 80 people in 2010.