Fourteen killed in soil slide at Ethiopian monastery

A devastating soil slide has claimed the lives of fourteen worshippers at the Tsadkan Mariam Orthodox monastery in Ethiopia's Amhara region. Five others sustained serious injuries and were transported to the hospital, according to the monastery's head, Megabe Hadis Nika Tebeb Ababu.

The incident occurred Monday at approximately 7 a.m. following torrential overnight rains, accompanied by thunder and lightning. A mudslide carrying rocks engulfed a hillside, burying a portion of the monastery located about 200 kilometers northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa.

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Fourteen worshippers who were in the monastery died instantly. Three others were seriously injured and taken to the hospital.

"Fourteen worshippers who were in the monastery died instantly," Tebeb Ababu told AFP, confirming that the death toll is "final." Local authorities in the North Shewa zone, where the incident took place, confirmed the fourteen fatalities, describing it as a "sudden soil slide" without providing further details.

Ethiopia, where over three-quarters of the population lives in rural areas, frequently experiences climate-related disasters. In July 2024, at least 257 people died in a soil slide in the southern part of the country. Earlier in March, floods and soil slides in the south claimed 80 lives.

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The death toll is final.