A landslide triggered by heavy rain struck a village in Sudan’s Darfur region on Sunday, flattening homes and prompting frantic recovery efforts by residents, aid workers and local authorities. Exact casualty figures remain contested, with estimates ranging from a handful of bodies recovered to claims that more than 1,000 people were killed.
Aid workers on the scene described scenes of widespread destruction and said villagers were excavating victims by hand because they lacked tools and machinery to carry out large-scale recoveries. Francesco Lanino, deputy Sudan director for programmes and operations at Save the Children, said teams believe the disaster may be "one of the most tragic and large-scale disasters in the region's history." He added that "1,000 lives may have been lost, including an estimated 200 children."
Accounts of the location and casualty totals vary. A rebel group controlling the area, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM-A), said the landslide struck Tarasin village in Central Darfur and that "initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than one thousand people. Only one person survived." Save the Children and local civil authorities gave lower but still grave figures: the head of the Civil Authority reported at least 373 bodies had been recovered, which Save the Children relayed. The national health ministry has said only two bodies had been recovered, reflecting the difficulty of obtaining verified information from the remote, conflict-affected area.
The discrepancy in numbers reflects restricted access to the site. Humanitarian workers and independent journalists have limited ability to move freely in parts of Darfur because of ongoing insecurity and damaged infrastructure, complicating efforts to confirm casualties and deliver assistance. Rescue and recovery operations have been impeded by the lack of heavy equipment, with local people relying on hand tools and manual digging to reach buried victims.
Save the Children staff described "destruction and devastation" in the impacted area, and urged expanded access for humanitarian teams. Aid groups on the ground reported that torrential rainfall in the days preceding the landslide saturated slopes and triggered the catastrophe. Local and international agencies have not issued a consolidated, independently verified death toll.
The event joins a pattern of destructive rainfall and flooding in parts of Sudan and the wider region this season. Heavy rains have strained local capacities for emergency response even where access is possible, and the obstruction of humanitarian routes in conflict-affected areas has exacerbated the challenge of mounting timely, large-scale rescue and relief efforts.
Local civil authorities, the rebel movement that controls the affected area and international aid organisations continue to attempt recoveries and to assess the scale of the disaster. Given the divergent reports and limited independent verification, the exact death toll is likely to remain uncertain until rescue teams can conduct a comprehensive on-site assessment with appropriate equipment and security guarantees for responders.