Death Toll in Ethiopia Mudslides Rises to at Least 157

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
TT

Death Toll in Ethiopia Mudslides Rises to at Least 157

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)

At least 157 people were killed in mudslides in a remote part of Ethiopia that has been hit with heavy rainfall, local authorities said Tuesday.
Young children and pregnant women were among the victims of the mudslides in the Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia, said Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator.
The death toll rose from 55 late Monday to 157 on Tuesday as search operations continued in the area, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the Gofa Zone communications office.

Gofa Zone is the administrative area where the mudslides occurred.
Most of the victims were buried in a mudslide on Monday morning as rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors of another mudslide the previous day.

At least five people have been pulled alive from the mud, Ayele said.
Another official in Gofa, Markos Melese, said many people remained unaccounted for among the group that was covered by mud while trying to rescue others.



Biden to Meet with Families of US Hostages held in Gaza, US Official Says

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
TT

Biden to Meet with Families of US Hostages held in Gaza, US Official Says

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

US President Joe Biden will meet with families of Americans held hostage in Gaza at the White House later this week, a US official said on Tuesday.

It would be the president's second such meeting since hostages were taken in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the official said, Reuters reported.

Biden, who has been recovering from COVID, was expected to meet with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, according to an official.