The death toll from the heavy rains that struck Ecuador over the weekend has risen to seven. The latest fatality occurred when a person was caught in a landslide while grazing cattle in the Cotopaxi province, adjacent to Tungurahua, where an avalanche in the tourist town of Baños killed six people on Sunday.
According to the Risk Management Secretariat, ten people are still missing in the Baños area and a bus carrying 30 people went missing, but all 30 passengers have been found safe. The mayor of Baños, Marlon Guevara, described the scene as “a neighborhood that has been swept away” and said it was the worst rain the town had experienced in 20 years.
The heavy rains also caused widespread damage, with landslides and floods reported in 10 of Ecuador’s 24 provinces. As a precaution, the private company in charge of one of the country’s oil pipelines, OCP Ecuador, suspended the transportation of 200,000 barrels of oil per day from the jungle region to a Pacific port. The company took the measure to prevent any potential damage to the pipeline.