Tanzania landslide kills at least 20 after rains

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A landslide on a mountainside in northern Tanzania triggered by four days of heavy rain has killed at least 20 people, a senior local official said on Wednesday.

Monica Mbega, regional commissioner for Kilimanjaro region, told Reuters locals had recovered 20 bodies after the disaster late on Tuesday in Goha village, which is home to 1,500 people.

"A landslide with a big chunk of mountain collapsed itself and came down and fell on about seven houses with about 32 families and about 25 people died," she said by telephone.

"For these past two years there has been a drought, but for about four days there has been a lot of powerful rain ... People are still digging. Just now they've recovered another body."

She said that on Wednesday there had been no more rain in the area, which is in the Pare Mountains, and that Goha residents believed there were five more bodies to find.