Twelve dead, dozens missing as landslide submerges boats in Peru port

This handout picture released by the Regional Emergency Operations Centre shows people around the wreckage of a vessel that was involved in an accident at the port of Iparia, in the Ucayali department in Peru's central jungle. At least 12 people, including three children, died when a landslide buried two boats docked at a river port in central Peru, with dozens of others missing, officials said. Photo / Handout, COER via AFP

At least 12 people, including three children, died today when a landslide sank two boats docked at a river port in central Peru, with dozens of others missing, officials said.

The landslide submerged two vessels at the port of Iparia in the Amazon jungle region of Ucayali, according to a police report cited by the Andina news agency.

The number of people on board has not been confirmed, but the national emergency operations centre said there were about 50 passengers on one and none on the second.

Navy captain Jonathan Novoa told AFP by telephone that nine bodies had been recovered, while 25 people were reported injured and possibly “40 missing”.

Authorities were working with families gathered at the scene of the disaster to try to determine exactly how many people still need to be located.

Images broadcast by the UTV Noticias channel showed distraught people running up and down the riverbank as luggage and merchandise from the sunken boats floated in the river.

Without providing a toll, the centre said on X that tragedy struck at dawn due to “erosion” of the bank of the Ucayali River.

It said the Navy had been called in to help.

Novoa said the rescue effort was complicated by fast-flowing water and whirlpools in the river.

“We are in the flood season ... and at the time of the accident there was fog, and the tasks are complicated,” he said.

-Agence France-Presse