bAt least 33 people were killed in a landslide in northwestern Colombia. According to initial information from the area where the accident occurred, mainly children were killed in the “tragedy,” Vice President Francia Márquez explained Saturday on the online service X, formerly known as Twitter. President Gustavo Petro announced that he would send “all available aid” to the scene of the accident in the Chocó department. Immediately after the accident, authorities reported 18 deaths.

After heavy rain on Friday, a landslide blocked the road between Medellín and the city of Quibdó. Many people then got out of their vehicles and sought shelter in a house near the indigenous community of Carmen de Atrato, a regional official said. But it was then buried by another landslide.

Images shared on Internet networks and television showed cars destroyed by land masses. Earlier, heavy rain had fallen for more than 24 hours in the rainforest region of the South American country's northwest. While much of Colombia is suffering from drought, authorities recently warned of heavy rains in the Amazon region and several areas along the Pacific coast.