Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:04:18 GMT
Alalam :At least 80 people died and 400 were missing after a landslide triggered by torrential rain swept away entire villages in eastern Uganda, the Ugandan Red Cross says.

"Eighty bodies have been recovered and the missing are more than 400 now, after 100 people were reported buried in a trading centre where they had taken shelter," said spokeswoman Catherine Ntabadde.

Rescue workers began pulling bodies from the mud after the landslide, while the Ugandan Red Cross reported widespread flooding and damage.

Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Tarsis Kabwegyere told parliament that the landslide hit three villages in the eastern district of Bududa.

The landslide happened after days of torrential rain. Uganda is currently experiencing unusually heavy downpours in the annual rainy season.

Local markets were destroyed, schools were forced to close and roads were blocked by heaps of earth that slid from higher ground, the national Red Cross Secretary General Michael Nataka said.

Widespread flooding also affected several other villages in this region near Mount Elgon, which straddles the Uganda-Kenya border, the Red Cross chief said.

However, there were no immediate reports of casualties in the other areas stricken by the disaster, according to the Red Cross.

Tonnes of relief aid and a helicopter carrying rescuers had been dispatched to the region, the minister said.