At least 229 people have been killed after two landslides in as many days in Ethiopia, with young children and pregnant women reported to be among the dead, a government official has said.

Some were killed as they tried to rescue people, local authorities said, in what the prime minister called a “terrible loss.”

The first landslide followed heavy rain on Sunday, before a second buried others who had gathered to help on Monday – when the number of dead stood at 50 people.

“I don’t know when it will stop. We are still recovering bodies,” said Markos Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone.

“There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister.”

Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator, said at least five people have been pulled out alive and pregnant women were killed with young children.

Footage shared by the local authorities showed people digging up bodies with shovels and bare hands.

Some women wailed as rescuers attempted to dig through the thick mud.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he was deeply saddened by the “terrible loss” and federal officials had been deployed.

The number of people missing is not clear.

The head of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian, said he was thinking of all the families affected and a WHO team has been dispatched.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia’s rainy season, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

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They often occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda’s mountainous east to central Kenya’s highlands.

In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya’s Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road.

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