At Least 48 Fatalities After Landslide Hits Colombian Village

Salgar en Antioquia. Imagen en Flickr del usuario Iván Erre Jota (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Salgar in Antioquia, Colombia. Image on Flickr by user Iván Erre Jota (CC BY-SA 2.0). Archive photo

At least 48 people were killed and an unknown number of people are missing after a landslide caused by heavy rains that hit the community of Salgar, in the Colombian department of Antioquia, in the early hours of May 18, 2015.

The secretary of government of Salgar, Zulma Osorio, declared that the “tragedy has had an overwhelmingly big magnitude (…), there are many fatalities, the community has completely collapsed.”

The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, expressed this on Twitter:

We've declared a state of public disaster in Salgar to respond to the emergency. From the national government and with the governor of Antioquia, Sergio Fajardo, all our support goes to the victims.

The Red Cross of Antioquia used the microblogging network to ask for donations:

Huge tragedy in Salgar, if you can help with blankets and non-perishable food at the logistics center in Medellin.

Other users said:

More rescuers and less opportunistic people is what it needed in Salgar right now.

Now the politicians pro and against are taking advantage of the tragedy in Salgar! MISERABLE PEOPLE.

Government responds to the emergency in Salgar, Antioquia, which has left more than 30 dead.

1 comment

  • […] At least 48 people were killed and an unknown number of disappeared ones were the tragic result of a landslide caused by heavy rains that hit the community of Salgar, in the Colombian department of Antioquia, in the early hours of May 18, 2015.  The secretary of government of Salgar, Zulma Osorio, declared that the “tragedy has had an overwhelmingly big magnitude (…), there are many fatalities, the community has completely collapsed.” The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, expressed this on Twitter:  At Least 48 Fatalities After Landslide Hit Colombian Village […]

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