Washington state mudslide kills eight, 108 reported missing

This weekend’s mudslide in Washington state left at least eight people dead. An official said Monday that there are 108 reported missing or unaccounted for.

The mudslide occurred in Snohomish County. During a meeting late Sunday, Tod Gates, an incident commander, confirmed that they had discovered four more bodies during the helicopter flight to the meeting. That doubled the number of confirmed deaths to eight, reports the Seattle Times.

Snohomish County emergency management director John Pennington held a press conference on Monday, saying that rescuers had a “soft” list of 108 to work with, reports The Associated Press.

Pennington noted that the slide happened Saturday morning, so more people were likely home at the time. He said that the names also include construction workers and drivers who just happened to be going through the county at the time.

Although they still hope to find survivors, Pennington said, “We have not found anyone alive on this pile since Saturday.”

The Times notes that they were hearing voices from the rubble Saturday night, but they were unable to reach them before darkness fell and the rescue efforts had to be stopped. On Sunday morning, they did not hear the voices.

The mudslide destroyed at least 30 homes and blocked a section of highway. The rural area of the state is just 55 miles northeast of Seattle.

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.