Heavy rains set off mudslides that kill at least 36 in Peru

Landslides triggered by steady rains swept mud, water and rocks into several villages in southern Peru, killing at least 36 people, authorities said Monday.

Wilson Gutierrez, a civil defense official in the Mariano Nicolás Valcárcel municipality in Camana province, told local radio RPP that 36 bodies had been recovered in a remote sector called Miski.

Civil Defence officials said an estimated 630 homes were unusable after the landslides, which also hit bridges, irrigation canals and roads.