The death toll from a flash flood that hit a town in south-eastern Ethiopia has climbed to at least 27 with rescue and recovery efforts still under way, officials said on Sunday.
Police in the town of Dire Dawa said the bodies of 21 people, including at least six children, who died in the overnight on Friday flood have been recovered and handed over to the victims’ families.
But police inspector Binyam Fikru told the Ethiopian News Agency that that number does not include people who were killed and immediately buried by their families.
Binyam said at least a dozen people have been rescued by relief workers who also managed to contain damage to the town, limiting it to a number of homes and vehicles.
On Saturday, hospital officials in the town, about 520km from the capital, said they had received 17 bodies, six of which were children, but police said the death toll was higher.
Dire Dawa is close to Ethiopia’s Somali state where at least 170 people died and more than 260 000 others were displaced by massive floods last month. — Sapa-AFP