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Landslide kills three in Mexico City
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-17 04:26

Three people died in a landslide in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Mexico City's southwestern Magdalena Contreras borough, the city's Civil Protection Department (SPC) told media.

Fire crews, soldiers and SPC staff have recovered three bodies from the scene, those of Jose Francisco San Diego and his two children Brenda and Michel, SPC chief Elias Moreno Brizuela told reporters. The landslide occurred in Ixtlahualtongo, a neighborhood where poor residents have built irregular and poorly planned dwellings.

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The area has suffered from flooding due to heavy rains that have battered central Mexico since late August. Two homes had already collapsed, before Wednesday incident, due to weakening foundations in the area, out of a total of 12 buildings in similar condition.

Residents of all the remaining houses evacuated the area immediately after Wednesday's incident. The city government will offer displaced residents safer housing elsewhere, Brizuela said. Meanwhile, borough officials will survey the area to identify other precariously built homes.