At least twenty dead after landslides in Tanzania

November 12, 2009 Four days of torrential rains in Tanzania caused landslides on Tuesday, killing at least twenty people in a village, among them seven schoolchildren. More people are also reported missing.

The regional commissioner for Kilimanjaro region, Monica Mbega, said to the Reuters news agency that twenty bodies were recovered from the village of Goha. She remarked that the torrential rains came after a period of prolonged drought.

"A landslide with a big chunk of mountain collapsed itself and came down and fell on about seven houses with about 32 families and about 25 people died. For these past two years there has been a drought, but for about four days there has been a lot of powerful rain," she said, noting that local residents think that there might be five more bodies to find.

Rescue efforts in Goha are ongoing.