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Tahiti Landslide in Afaahiti Kills Eight as Search Winds Down

Officials say recovery operations are largely complete after extreme rainfall destabilized a 30-meter slope.

Overview

  • Authorities confirm three women, four men and a 3-year-old girl died, with no additional victims expected under the debris after overnight searches.
  • The slide struck at dawn after roughly a month’s rain fell in five days, sending a 30-meter-high wall of earth into two homes.
  • Rescue teams advanced cautiously after secondary collapses, using excavators, search dogs, radar, endoscopic cameras, drones and an army helicopter.
  • Twenty-nine homes — about 50 residents — were evacuated, a psychological support cell was opened, and clearance work was paused as geologists deemed the area hazardous.
  • A judicial inquiry for involuntary manslaughter is underway, with national and local leaders coordinating the response and President Macron offering condolences.