A landslide has wiped out a village in Sudan's western region of Darfur, killing an estimated 1,000 people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in the African country's recent history.
The tragedy happened on Sunday in the village of Tarasin in Central Darfur's Marrah Mountains after days of heavy rainfall in late August, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army said in a statement.
'Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than one thousand people. Only one person survived,' the rebel group's statement said.
The village was 'completely levelled to the ground', the group said, appealing to the UN and international aid groups for help to recover the bodies.
Footage shared by the Marrah Mountains news outlet showed a flattened area between mountain ranges with a group of people searching the area.
The tragedy came as a devastating civil war has engulfed Sudan after tensions between the country's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.
Most of the Darfur region, including the Marrah Mountains, has become mostly inaccessible for the UN and aid groups given crippling restrictions and fighting between Sudan's military and the RSF.
The Sudan Liberation Movement-Army, centred in the Marrah Mountains area, is one of multiple rebel groups active in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. It has not taken sides in the war.
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