59 die in mudslide near Guatemala City, hundreds missing

GUATEMALA CITY _ At least 59 people have been confirmed dead in a mudslide on the outskirts of Guatemala City, the public prosecutor said Saturday.tmpplchld Hundreds of people were still missing in a residential area in the town of Santa Carina Pinula. Rescue crews and residents of the area continued looking for people in the rubble.tmpplchld The volunteer fire department saved one of its members who had been covered overnight while searching. Thirty-four people were been pulled alive from the mud and debris, radio broadcaster Emisoras Unidas reported.tmpplchld The mudslide, which buried about 125 homes, occurred after days of rain early Friday. Witnesses said the steep hillside broke in two and fell onto the houses in the suburb, inhabited mostly by poor families.tmpplchld Some of the homes lie under as much as 65 feet of soil, fire chief Fritz Garcia-Gallont said, according to the newspaper Prensa Libre. Heavy machines were brought in to help the more than 1,000 rescuers and volunteers.tmpplchld President Alejandro Maldonado instructed rescuers not to let up in their search for survivors and for the dead.tmpplchld The city administration has set up emergency accommodation for people affected by the mudslide.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)tmpplchld Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.htmltmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld