TBILISI, Aug 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll from a landslide at a resort town in northwestern Georgia has risen to 26, the internal affairs ministry said.
Search operations are ongoing for seven people still missing from the Aug 3 landslide around Shovi, a small resort in the Caucasus nation’s northwest, famed for vast forests and mineral water springs.
“The total number of dead is 26, and rescuers are looking for seven more,” the emergency service of the internal affairs ministry said.
A previous toll announced on August 5 put the number of dead at 16.
Images from the ministry showed rescuers manning excavators to shift dried, moved earth.
Teams are searching both at the epicentre of the disaster and in nearby riverbeds, the ministry said on Facebook.
Shovi, in a remote valley 140 kilometres northwest of the capital Tbilisi, lies on the confluence of two rivers.
Heavy rains and flooding are fairly common in Georgia, where steep slopes pose a risk of landslides. — NNN-AGENCIES
