Sri Lanka races to rescue flood victims before rain resumes

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Helicopters searched for people marooned three days after rain-triggered floods and mudslides inundated Sri Lankan neighborhoods and killed at least 169 people.

With more rain expected, rescuers raced on Monday to evacuate people from the most vulnerable areas. Already more than 100,000 had taken shelter in 339 relief camps set up in the south and west.

Army boats skimmed waterlogged village streets, while flood victims waded through brackish waters to Army trucks carrying relief supplies.

A Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter on a relief mission crash-landed near the town of Baddegama in southern Sri Lanka on Monday, but none of the 11 people onboard was injured.

Earlier, an airman died in a fall while trying to rescue a stranded person from the air.

Rathana Kumari, who fled her flooded home with her family and took refuge on the Southern Expressway, a major highway linking the capital, Colombo, with the cities of Matara and Galle, said: "We are displaced and have no place to go."

Officials said at least 102 people were still missing since the floods hit on Friday, along with cascades of red mud that swallowed village homes.

K.W. Robo Singo, 72, lost his daughter, granddaughter and four great-grandchildren.

"I heard a huge sound and saw large rocks and trees crashing down," Singo said. "Within five minutes everything was over, the whole area was a heap of mud."

Special medical teams were sent to the affected areas, while medicine was sent by air to hospitals unreachable by road, said Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne.

Soldiers took advantage of a lull in the rain on Sunday to clear roads to reach some affected areas, said Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, who is heading the search and rescue mission.

The United Nations said it had joined the relief efforts and would donate water purification tablets, tents and other supplies for the displaced. Other nations sent relief and medical supplies or pledged to do so.

Another massive landslide a year ago killed more than 100 people in central Sri Lanka.

Associated Press