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Mayan Village Devastated By Mud Slide
 

     In Panabaj, Guatemala, a mudslide created by Hurricane Stan killed around 1,500 villagers on Wednesday. Rescue workers and firefighters did not arrive on the scene until Friday and almost gave up the search for bodies and survivors due to a Guatemalan health law that limits the search for dead to 72 hours.

     The slide was caused by Hurricane Stan's heavy rains, which sent an avalanche of mud, trees, and rocks crashing down a volcano's slopes and into the village of Panabaj where the sleeping people were covered in 40 feet of mud. Rescue workers, fearful of sinking into the quagmire like mud themselves, say that most of the people are buried under where the mud is thickest.

     Locals are drawing up names of missing and dead as dozens of bodies are recovered from the mud. Authorities say that the site has so many victims buried that the village might be declared a mass grave, instead of searching for the body of every missing person. Ana Luisa Olmedo, spokeswoman for the civil protection agency of Guatemala said that the authorities were more concerned with getting food to those who were alive
than in searching for the dead. The search for the victims in the mud is being postponed occasionally as the rains fall, for fear of another mudslidestarting.