In Photos: Searching for Survivors in the Guatemalan Town Buried by a Landslide

Rescuers and families continue to scour through earth and debris in search of survivors from the disaster, which has left 131 people dead and more than 300 unaccounted for.

by VICE News

October 4, 2015, 7:45pm

Photo par Esteban Biba / EPA

Four days after a landslide consumed a community in Guatemala, rescuers and families continue to scour through earth and debris in search of survivors. The death toll from the disaster climbed to 131 on Monday, while as many as 300 people remain unaccounted for.

The slide occurred on Thursday after rain loosened tons of earth, rock, and trees on a slope in Santa Catarina Pinula, located southeast of Guatemala City. The hillside collapsed, flattening houses and trapping residents.

A number of houses are buried under about 50 feet of detritus, and a team of some 1,800 volunteers has continued to dig up personal belongings as they search for anyone left alive.

"This is the worst thing that has happened to us," 48-year-old Ana Maria Escoba told Reuters as she awaited news of her missing family members. "So far only my sister-in-law has been found."

The landslide is one of the worst natural disasters to hit Central America since the October 2005 landslide that hit the Guatemalan village of Panabaj and left more than 400 people dead or missing.