VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico (AFP) — Rescuers on Tuesday found two bodies while searching for 16 people missing after a mudslide struck flood-ravaged southern Mexico, where hundreds of people still refuse to evacuate their homes for fear of looters.
Days of heavy rain on Monday triggered a "severe" landslide that sent part of a hill in the southern state of Chiapas crashing into the Grijalva River, destroying dozens of houses, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
"A geological fault caused a 200-meter (660-foot) high hill to collapse onto the river bed," the state's assistant secretary for civil protection told Formato 21 radio. "It caused a wave of about 50 to 60 meters (165 to 198 feet) that affected the community" of San Juan Grijalva, Manuel Garcia added.
A team of scuba divers deployed Tuesday to the area to search the river found two bodies, local officials said, adding that there was little hope that the remaining 14 people reported missing would be found alive.
Six Zokues Indian communities near San Juan were evacuated in fear of more landslides, officials added.
Another large landslide on Monday isolated nine other Chiapas communities near the border with the neighboring state of Tabasco, authorities said.
The two southern Mexican states are struggling to recover from devastating floods caused by more than a week of non-stop heavy rain.
In Tabasco, authorities said about half the population of 2.1 million people were affected by the floods, the worst in the state's history.
While the rain has stopped, several cities and towns remained flooded, and area rivers were still far above their normal levels.
Including Tuesday's grisly find, three deaths have been officially attributed to the flooding, though officials were trying to establish the cause of death of another two bodies found in a neighborhood of Tabasco's state capital Villahermosa.
Hundreds of anxious residents traveled from shelter to shelter in search of missing relatives, while radio and television stations were swamped by calls from listeners eager for news of their loved ones.
Rescue teams used motorboats and helicopters to deliver emergency supplies to the needy and to evacuate people from homes threatened by the high water.
About 10,000 people in Tabasco remained cut off by floods Tuesday, according to state Governor Andres Granier, who expressed confidence most of them would be evacuated before the day is out.
"The problem, he said, "is in the more remote villages were people refuse to leave."
A number of people have made it clear they would not leave their homes, for fear of looting.
Some 50 people were detained over the weekend for allegedly stealing household items and stereos from stores and homes, local media reported.
In Villahermosa, hundreds of flood victims waved signs pleading for food and aid from their rooftops and attics.
Many of the flood victims complained of chaotic distribution of emergency aid, and television footage showed people fighting over food supplies in Villahermosa.
There was some relief amid the despair: water levels started to drop, drinking water was restored in parts of Villahermosa, and officials authorized schools to reopen in the few areas of the city of 750,000 that are not under water.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, meanwhile, canceled his planned participation in the November 8-10 Ibero-American conference in Chile, saying he would be leading aid and reconstruction efforts.
A number of countries have responded to Calderon's call for international solidarity, including the Germany, which offered 250,000 euros, the United States, which pledged 350,000 dollars, and Canada which offered 540,000 dollars.
In Geneva, the International Committee for the Red Cross issued an appeal for 1.04 million dollars (722,000) euros to assist those affected by the floods and to restock emergency supplies in anticipation of more rain.
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