Eleven killed as mudslide strikes Mexican hamlet

MEXICO CITY, Aug 2 (Reuters) Eleven people were killed when part of a rain-sodden mountain collapsed on top of a remote Mazatec Indian hamlet in southeastern Mexico, civil protection officials said today.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of six adults and five children killed when the mudslide buried two houses in the hamlet of Santa Maria Chilchotla in Oaxaca state shortly after midnight, said state civil protection spokesman Luis Zarate.

Heavy rains have pounded northern, central and southeastern Mexico in recent weeks, washing out roads and raising fears of flash-flooding and mudslides in mountainous areas.

REUTERS VJ RK0245