The landslide that occurred this Sunday in a tourist region of Ecuador following heavy rains left seven dead and 22 injured, according to a latest report this Monday, June 17 from the authorities.
On Sunday, they said six people had died, as many were injured and 30 others, who were traveling on a bus, were missing.
The National Risk Management Secretariat (SNGR) assured this Monday, June 17 that all the people initially reported missing on this bus had been found and were “safe”. Among the 22 injured, four are in serious condition. “critical”according to the same source.
The disaster occurred in the municipalities of Baños de Agua Santa and Cotopaxi, a tourist area in the central Tungurahua province located at the foot of an active volcano.
The bad weather has also “considerably” accelerated the erosion of a river in the Amazon province of Napo (east) crossed by the Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados (OCP), one of the country’s two major oil pipelines transporting oil from the fields of this jungle region to the Pacific coast.
Heavy rains in Ecuador’s Amazon and Andean regions over the weekend caused devastation in ten of the country’s 24 provinces, where landslides and flooding were reported.
The cyclical climatic phenomenon El Niño, particularly powerful this year, has amplified the rise in temperatures in the region, and Ecuador has experienced a period “abnormally dry” in recent months, according to its climate agency.
