100 missing: Ugandan village digs through mudslide

[June 26, 2012]  BUDUDA, Uganda (AP) -- Villagers say that some 100 people -- mostly children -- are missing after a massive mudslide destroyed three villages in eastern Uganda.

Rescue workers and villagers on Tuesday dug by hand through the layers of silt. Many said the search was hopeless because the simple hand tools were incapable of finding the dead.

Musa Eweru, an official with the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, said the government was hiring bulldozers to move the quickly hardening mud. The landslides were triggered Monday afternoon by heavy rain.

Officials said they were not yet ready to give a death toll. But residents like Alice Bunyolo said close to 100 people, mostly children, were missing. Bunyolo said her brother lost a wife and two children.

[Associated Press]

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