51 dead in flooding disaster in Burundi capital

BUJUMBURA, Feb 10 (AFP): At least 51 people perished in flooding and landslides in a night of torrential rain in the Burundi capital that swept away hundreds of homes and cut off roads and power, officials said Monday.

Police in Bujumbura said the toll was the highest in living memory from a disaster caused by freak weather, with more than 100 people also injured.

"The rain that fell in torrents overnight on the capital caused a disaster," Security Minister Gabriel Nizigama told reporters.

"We have already found the bodies of 51 people killed when their houses collapsed or were swept away."

Nizigama said burials of the victims would begin on Monday because there was not enough space for their bodies in the capital's mortuaries.

He was speaking at a police station in the northern part of Bujumbura, the area hardest hit by the landslides and flooding after the rains began lashing the capital late Sunday.

An AFP journalist saw 27 bodies covered in white sheeting at the police station.

Police said several hundred homes were destroyed and more than 100 people injured in Bujumbura, which lies on the northeastern shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Houses in the poorer parts of town are often built from mud bricks, which offer no resistance to torrents of water and mud.