Landslide kills 20 in Peruvian Amazons

LIMA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A landslide had killed at least 20 people and left 35 others missing in the Peruvian Amazons, the Peruvian National Institute of Civil Defense (Indeci) said on Friday.

The landslide occurred on Thursday night in Ambo, Huanuco department, some 550 kilometers northeast of Lima, affecting three towns, the Indeci said.

Indeci spokeswoman Medaltih Sotil told the press that brigades of the Peruvian National Police and firemen retrieved eleven bodies from a river in the zone.

Also 60 houses were destroyed or became uninhabitable, leaving some 120 families homeless, Sotil noted.

"The damage was not only in the towns of El Arroyito, El Porvenir, and 16 de Noviemeber, where poor people live, but also in other neighboring areas," said Sotil, citing "preliminary reports."

"We are making big efforts, first to relieve the pain (of the people) and the loss of property," she added.

On Thursday also in Huanuco department, on the highway Huanuco- Tingo Maria, another landslide killed at least seven people and left several others missing in a zone known as Cancejo.

Machinery and workers were sent to Cancejo and Ambo to remove the mud and stone, so as to reopen the roads blocked by the landslide and allow humanitarian aid in.