At least 15 people were killed and more than 30 injured after a hotel wall collapsed during a wedding ceremony at Albancay, Peru early Sunday. A mudslide is reported to have triggered the collapse. A child was also reported missing.

Reports said thirteen people died immediately as the wall collapsed on them. “About 100 guests were present at the Alhambra hotel at the time of the incident. Some 50 of them were close to one of the walls that collapsed,” said Jorge Chavez, national civil defense chief. He further said 30 people who were dancing were pulled out from the debris with injuries and were being treated at a nearby hospital.

“The mudslide broke through the walls of the hotel, crashing through,” said Evaristo Ramos, the Abancay city mayor. He told the media every effort was being taken to ensure that rescue workers were able to reach people trapped under the rubble and the wounded were being taken to hospitals. He said the 15 dead included four men and 11 women while 34 others were injured. These did not include the bride and groom, who were in a stable condition.

The Alhambra hotel is built very close to a hillside. Authorities said a retaining wall collapsed and the mudslide brought the hotel roof down on the wedding guests. The Andean city in southern Peru faced constant rains for the past five days leading to the collapse. The impact of mud and rocks caused the hotel building’s walls and roof to cave in even as the revellers were dancing.

Firefighters, police and local residents worked all night to rescue people still trapped under the debris. Meanwhile, people searching for missing relatives were urged to visit health centers in the surrounding areas to find and identify their family members.

The National Institute of Civil Defense of Peru (INDECI) posted a tweet about updates on the landslide. The tweets show rescuers trying to pull people out from the debris and gave out an update on the number of fatalities and injured. Their last tweet said that there was a report of a missing child. However, there were no updates on the identity of the child.

mudslide peru
After five days of constant rains, a hotel wall collapsed after a mudslide hit it early morning Sunday, killing 15 people and injuring 34 others in Peru. This image shows people amidst damages caused by a landslide in Chanchamayo, near Lima, Peru Jan. 22, 2007. STR/AFP/Getty Images

Peru has been hit by landslides in the past as well. In 2017, Lima was hit by storms and flooding due to constant rains and more than half a million people in and around the capital were affected by them. Rains poured down for weeks and caused rivers across the country to rise and overflow. A number of cities had declared a state of emergency. The mudslides had destroyed over 14,000 homes leaving more than 150,000 people homeless and killed over 100 people and left scores of others missing.

In 2018, a landslide hit Peru burying more than 80 houses as an avalanche of rocks and mud fell on a town in the Huanuca province, in the northeast of Lima. No casualties were reported and emergency shelters were set up for affected people. It was believed that the landslide was caused by the El Nino effect developing in the Pacific Ocean.

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