Sudan landslide leaves conflicting reports of death toll
The BBC is reporting this morning on the landslide that leveled the village of Tarseen in the remote Jebel Marra Mountains of western Sudan on Sunday, August 31, 2025. The BBC’s source – UN deputy humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, Antoine Gérard – said that the landslide has killed at least 370 people. An earlier and larger death toll of 1,000 had come on Monday from the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM), an armed group led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour. This group controls the affected area.
The SLM had said the death toll of 1,000 was a preliminary estimate. Their early assessment, announced in a statement, suggested “the death of all village residents.” Later, one survivor was found.
The SLM statement also said the landslide “leveled” much of the village of Tarseen.
The landslide happened after days of heavy rain.
Affected area hard to reach
The UN’s Antoine Gérard told the BBC that it was hard to assess the scale of the incident or the exact death toll, because the affected area was very hard to reach. In this way, the event is eerily reminiscent of another disaster that happened on Sunday, August 31, this time in a hard-to-reach area in the mountains of Afghanistaan. The Afghanistan event was an earthquake that reportedly killed 800 people, and the Taliban, which controls the region, was asking the world for help.
Likewise, in Sudan, the BBC reported:
The movement has appealed for humanitarian assistance from the UN and other regional and international organizations.
Getting aid quickly to the area would be difficult, Mr Gérard said.
‘We do not have helicopters, everything goes in vehicles on very bumpy roads. It takes time and it is the rainy season – sometimes we have to wait hours, maybe a day or two to cross a valley… bringing in trucks with commodities will be a challenge.’
Many residents from North Darfur state had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region, after war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forced them from their homes.
Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, called the landslide a ‘humanitarian tragedy.’
‘We appeal to international humanitarian organizations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone,’ he said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.
Pictures show two gullies on the side of a mountain which converge at a lower level where the village of Tarseen was.
Bottom line: There are widely conflicting reports of the death toll this morning, following Sunday’s landslide in the remote Mara Mountains of western Sudan on Sunday. But it is certain that at least hundreds of people were killed, and their village partly or mostly leveled. Calls for help from the outer world are going out.
The post Sudan landslide flattens village, leaves uncertain death toll first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/jq1FgL8
Sudan landslide leaves conflicting reports of death toll
The BBC is reporting this morning on the landslide that leveled the village of Tarseen in the remote Jebel Marra Mountains of western Sudan on Sunday, August 31, 2025. The BBC’s source – UN deputy humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, Antoine Gérard – said that the landslide has killed at least 370 people. An earlier and larger death toll of 1,000 had come on Monday from the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM), an armed group led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour. This group controls the affected area.
The SLM had said the death toll of 1,000 was a preliminary estimate. Their early assessment, announced in a statement, suggested “the death of all village residents.” Later, one survivor was found.
The SLM statement also said the landslide “leveled” much of the village of Tarseen.
The landslide happened after days of heavy rain.
Affected area hard to reach
The UN’s Antoine Gérard told the BBC that it was hard to assess the scale of the incident or the exact death toll, because the affected area was very hard to reach. In this way, the event is eerily reminiscent of another disaster that happened on Sunday, August 31, this time in a hard-to-reach area in the mountains of Afghanistaan. The Afghanistan event was an earthquake that reportedly killed 800 people, and the Taliban, which controls the region, was asking the world for help.
Likewise, in Sudan, the BBC reported:
The movement has appealed for humanitarian assistance from the UN and other regional and international organizations.
Getting aid quickly to the area would be difficult, Mr Gérard said.
‘We do not have helicopters, everything goes in vehicles on very bumpy roads. It takes time and it is the rainy season – sometimes we have to wait hours, maybe a day or two to cross a valley… bringing in trucks with commodities will be a challenge.’
Many residents from North Darfur state had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region, after war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forced them from their homes.
Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, called the landslide a ‘humanitarian tragedy.’
‘We appeal to international humanitarian organizations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone,’ he said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.
Pictures show two gullies on the side of a mountain which converge at a lower level where the village of Tarseen was.
Bottom line: There are widely conflicting reports of the death toll this morning, following Sunday’s landslide in the remote Mara Mountains of western Sudan on Sunday. But it is certain that at least hundreds of people were killed, and their village partly or mostly leveled. Calls for help from the outer world are going out.
The post Sudan landslide flattens village, leaves uncertain death toll first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/jq1FgL8
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