More than 370 bodies recovered after landslide in Sudan’s Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL

More than 370 bodies have been recovered after a deadly landslide that killed nearly 1,000 people in Darfur in western Sudan, a Sudanese group said on Thursday.

Ibrahim Hasbullah, an official with the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), said they had managed to retrieve over 370 bodies from under the rubble in Tarsin village in Central Darfur State.

“As for the remaining victims, we were not able to retrieve them as their bodies were held under the rocks while others were swept away by the valley,” he added in a video shared on social media.

In a statement on Thursday, SLM said the disaster-stricken village “lies in a deep gorge in central Jebel Marra, in fragile volcanic soil that facilitates landslides once saturated with water after heavy rainfall.”

According to local sources, more than 1,000 people were killed Tuesday in the village due to landslides caused by heavy rains.

SLM is one of the largest armed groups in Darfur that has fought the government since 2003. Unlike other factions, it has refused peace with the Khartoum government.

The group controls some areas in Central Darfur, which are also under the influence of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

On Tuesday, Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council said that it has mobilized all possible resources to provide support to those affected in Tarsin.