Death toll rises after landslide

GUATEMALA CITY -- Rescue workers in Guatemala pulled dozens of bodies from a massive mudslide and from a swollen river Thursday, raising to at least 236 the number of people killed from five days of pounding rains in Central America and Mexico.\nOfficials expected the death to toll to climb as they searched for more than 150 others who were missing following the landslide in Solola, a town close to Lake Atitlan, 60 miles west of the capital, Guatemala City.\nAlong the country's Pacific coast, the Nahualate River broke from its banks, creating a new outlet to the sea and killing at least 20 people from a small, seaside village, navy officials said.\nThere was joy amid the tragedy. Claudio Manchinel, from Iztapa in coastal, southern Guatemala, was forced to walk for hours through rain and mud with his pregnant wife, Leticia. Upon reaching a highway, the couple stopped an ambulance, which took them to a naval base, where their son Claudio was born Wednesday.\nManchinel said the flooding reminded him of Hurricane Mitch, which killed at least 9,000 people throughout Central America in 1998.\nThe recovery of bodies pushed the number killed in the region to 236, including 14 victims earlier this week in Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica, and 13 victims who died in three southern Mexican states.\nThe current death toll in Guatemala is 144, with the discovery of five new victims. At least 65 died in El Salvador.\nFor the first time since the weekend, the weather cleared Thursday and allowed Guatemala President Oscar Berger to fly over devastated areas and evaluate damage.\nHe asked Congress to declare a state of emergency as rescue workers in Solola reported that two other villages had been buried by landslides, including Las Giraldas, 55 miles west of Guatemala City. There, more than a dozen people were working to dig out houses buried when a second hillside collapsed.\nIn Quetzaltenango, Guatemala's second-most important city about 125 miles west of the capital, floodwaters rose 6 1/2 feet high, destroying hundreds of homes, businesses and public buildings, firefighters said.\nMore than 24,000 people from 270 communities took refuge in shelters throughout Guatemala, but they were suffering from the cold and a lack of food and water, according to radio reports. Quetzaltenango residents reported similar conditions.\n"It was complicated arriving with new shipments of food" because of the bad weather, said Agriculture Minister Alvaro Aguilar. "Today, we are making an effort" to reach the areas by air.\nGuatemalan rescue workers also were trying to restore access to 300 roads blocked by fallen trees, flooding and landslides.\nIn El Salvador, where the heavy rains have left 65 dead, rescuers also stepped up aid flights and flyovers as the sun emerged from behind the clouds.\nAuthorities also were on alert for new landslides and flooded rivers similar to those that already had closed or destroyed dozens of highways and bridges. Officials said nearly 54,000 people had been evacuated to 370 shelters throughout the country, while nearly 80 percent of the country's roadways had been affected by the rains.