Mourners will hold a collective funeral for the victims of a massive landslide that killed at least 78 people in northwest Colombia, religious officials said Wednesday.
Rescue workers continued searching for victims after the Liboriana River burst its banks early Monday and sent a flood of mud rushing down a ravine, virtually obliterating the small town of La Margarita.
But officials and family members said little hope remained that any of the missing would be found alive.
Thirty-nine bodies have been identified in the regional capital Medellin and are expected to begin arriving home Thursday, said Ruben Lopez, the parish priest for Salgar, the municipality of 18,000 people where La Margarita is located.
"There will be a collective ceremony," he told AFP. It will be held in Salgar`s main park because his church would likely be too small to hold all the mourners.
Awaiting news of their loved ones` fate, survivors wrapped in mud-stained blankets gathered outside the local cemetery, where the bodies were being brought as they were found.
"In the midst of all this tragedy, the only hope we have left is to find them and give them a proper burial," said survivor Jaime Londono.
"I would like to see the search continue until all the families in town find our siblings, children, parents, grandchildren... whatever relatives there were," said Luz Arboleda, whose 33-year-old brother is still missing.
His children, 11 and 14, survived the landslide, but their mother did not. Arboleda fears they are among those orphaned by the tragedy.
At least nine children perished.
More than 700 people were left homeless by the landslide, which hit in the middle of the night, when most residents were asleep.
They are being housed in temporary shelters or on the coffee plantations that dot the region`s green mountains and are the backbone of its economy.
President Juan Manuel Santos has announced that affected families will receive $7,000 each, as well as temporary housing and help to rebuild their homes.
Colombia`s tropical climate and mountainous landscapes make it prone to landslides.
Salgar`s Municipal Development Plan for 2012 to 2015 had highlighted the risk of landslides in the area, local media reported.
