BOGOTA, Jan 13, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A landslide in northwest Colombia killed at least 18 people and injured around 30 on Friday, local authorities said.

The road linking the cities of Medellin and Quibdo was temporarily closed after being damaged by several landslides, an official from the governor's office in Choco department told AFP.

On the road, "many people" got out of their vehicles to "take shelter in a house" near the municipality of Carmen de Atrato, "but unfortunately a landslide came and buried them," the official said, reporting 18 deaths so far.

Vice President Francia Marquez said on X that around 30 people were injured.

Jaime Herrera, the mayor of Carmen de Atrato, told local TV station Caracol that people were "seriously injured" in the landslide while others were still trapped under it, without giving a figure.

Images on social media and television channels showed cars destroyed by mud and landslides.

The department of Choco, which borders the Pacific Ocean and is home to a vast tropical forest, has been hit by heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours.

While Colombia is going through a period of drought, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies had previously warned of the risk of heavy rains in several departments bordering the Pacific and the Amazon.