Rescuers search for Mexico mudslide victims

Rescuers searched Thursday for 68 people missing since a massive mudslide buried a Mexican village, while deaths from storms that battered the country neared 100 nationwide. As 100 soldiers and police removed rubble with their hands in the southwestern village, Hurricane Manuel pounded the northwest state of Sinaloa, bringing more rain to the flood-stricken nation before weakening back to tropical storm strength. Luis Felipe Puente, the national civil protection coordinator, said the death toll from days of floods and landslides had jumped to 97 from 81, with 65 of them registered in the southwestern state of Guerrero. Guerrero was the hardest-hit state from the dual onslaught of Manuel and sister storm Ingrid on the east coast this week that drenched most of Mexico, damaging bridges, roads and tens of thousands of homes. Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said the number of people reported missing from La Pintada, which lies west of the Pacific resort of Acapulco in Guerrero, had risen to 68 from 58. "The biggest effects from Manuel and Ingrid are in La Pintada," he told Formula radio. The mayor of Atoyac de Alvarez, the municipality that oversees La Pintada, told AFP on Wednesday that at least 15 bodies had been pulled from the site. But the federal government said it had yet to confirm any deaths and that so far, survivors testified that they had removed five bodies from the coffee-growing village. The mud cascaded down a hill and covered much of the village, burying homes, the school and church before crashing into a river. The church's steeple was toppled, its cross broken off. "People were in the church asking God to stop the rain," said Roberto Catalan, a 56-year-old farmer whose six children and wife immigrated to the United States. "The earth had been bubbling. When we heard a bang, we ran out," he said. Jose Minos Romero, 12, said he was playing soccer with 10 other children and was only saved "because my mother called me" while "my friends died." The mudslide swamped the village on Monday as many people were having lunch during independence day celebrations. News of the tragedy only emerged two days later after a survivor was able to radio a neighboring village. The search for bodies was delayed several hours due to fears that water gushing from the mountain could trigger a new landslide in the village. But troops finally arrived after a seven-hour trek on a winding mountain road covered by mud and rocks. It normally takes two hours to arrive by car from the nearest municipality. The rescuers removed wooden planks and other rubble with their bare hands. Police helicopters evacuated 334 women, children and senior citizens to Acapulco on Wednesday and authorities said they would return for the remaining 45 survivors on Thursday. The villagers who stayed behind included women and children, and some said they would prefer to go to Atoyac de Alvarez rather than Acapulco, which was severely flooded. The storms that swept across the nation have damaged 35,000 homes and forced the evacuation of 50,000 people, officials said. Acapulco was cut off from the world after the two highways linking the resort to Mexico City were blocked by landslides, marooning tourists and residents. More than half of Acapulco was flooded, stranding 40,000 tourists who sought airlifts while looters ransacked stores. Osorio Chong said almost 12,000 tourists had been flown to the capital in special military and commercial flights, while authorities hoped to re-open the road out of Acapulco on Friday. The civilian airport's terminal was flooded in knee-high dark water, but commercial carriers Aeromexico and Interjet have flown special flights since Tuesday. A human rights group accused the authorities of neglecting mountain communities. The minister said "we do care about the lives of people in the mountains" but "we can't enter some communities by air or land." While Manuel churned in the northwest, a new tropical cyclone threatened to form in the east and cause more misery.