Sudan Landslide: Villagers Dig Bare-Handed to Reach People Trapped in Landslide as First Aid Team Finds Mass Devastation

TARSIN, Sudan (Sept. 5, 2025) – Villagers in a remote village in Sudan are using their hands to try to reach people who were buried in a landslide days ago, as the first emergency workers arrived on donkeys to find mass devastation and hundreds dead, Save the Children said.

Torrential rains caused a landslide in the village of Tarsin in the Marrah Mountains in the western region of Darfur on Sunday, cutting off road access. It was only on Thursday that the first aid workers travelling on a herd of donkeys managed to reach the site with emergency supplies.

Heavy rainfall continuing for over 36 hours – and two further landslides hitting the area since Sunday – had also hampered rescue efforts. Lightning from storms has sparked fires across the surrounding mountains, causing further destruction and displacing residents.

Save the Children staff, who took over 6 hours to cover 13 miles of rocky, muddy terrain from their office in Golo to reach the village,  have set up a mobile health clinic and are distributing medication to families, as they start to assess the impact of the landslide and the number of people killed, injured, and displaced.

The team has reported scenes of destruction and devastation, with an urgent need for shelter, food, medicines and other equipment – and children always the most impacted in any disaster.

Francesco Lanino, Deputy Country Director of Programmes and Operations for Save the Children in Sudan, is coordinating the operation and in direct contact with the team in Tarsin. He said:  

"Teams on the ground are reporting that the landslide is one of the most tragic and large-scale disasters in the region's history. So far, at least 373 bodies have been recovered, according to the Head of the Civil Authority, and 1,000 lives may have been lost, including an estimated 200 children, with search and rescue operations still underway.

"People are excavating by hand to rescue the bodies of their relatives since there are no tools or machinery availability. The Tarsin area is made up of five villages, and in the village most severely affected by the landslide, there is only one known survivor. Across all five villages, there are 150 survivors, including 40 children that are receiving medical and protection support from Save the Children.

"The Civil Authority is reporting around 5,000 livestock have also died in the disaster, and vast swarths of agricultural lands - critical for food and livelihoods – have been destroyed. Many of the survivors have fled to nearby villages, because there is nothing left of their homes and they are afraid of the ongoing movements in the ground.

"Our teams are providing the basics but there is a desperate need for more of everything. We call on the international community to step and help families in their time of grave need in Sudan."

Save the Children is working with the head of the Civil Authority, alongside community representatives, on the emergency. An interagency assessment of the situation will begin once other NGOs and UN agencies arrive in the area.

The disaster comes as Sudan is facing one of the world's gravest humanitarian emergencies, with more than 30 million people in need of assistance – more than half the population. Parts of the country have been p ushed into famine conditions due to ongoing conflict and repeated climate shocks.

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across the country, providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support. 

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