Rescuers search for victims in Chiapas mudslide

Divers headed into a murky river Tuesday and rescue workers dug through mountains of earth in search of victims after a rain-soaked hill collapsed, burying homes in mud and sending up a wall of water that one official described as a “mini-tsunami.” Two bodies were recovered and 12 people were reported missing.

Animals helped save the lives of some of those in the Chiapas state hamlet of San Juan Grijalva: Cattle, apparently sensing the impending slide, fled to higher ground Sunday. Villagers who thought the cows were being stolen or straying ran after them, unwittingly saving their own lives, Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez Acuna said.

Officials said that about 80% of Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Tabasco was under water at one point and about 500,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Tens of thousands of people huddled in makeshift shelters, on rooftops and in the second floors of homes as authorities patrolled flooded streets in boats, looking for looters.

Survivors from San Juan Grijalva said they were awakened Sunday night by a loud rumbling as mud and rocks rolled down from surrounding hilltops.

“It was a roar, like a helicopter was passing overhead,” recounted farmer Domingo Sanchez, 21.

He believes at least nine of his relatives were buried.

When the hillside collapsed into the Grijalva River, it also created at least one enormous wave that swept over dozens of homes.

“It swept away everything; trees, houses, everything,” said David Sanchez, 22.