mudslide Colombia
© ReutersSearch and rescue operations underway at site of a landslide in Nariño, Colombia, January 21, 2018, in this picture obtained from social media.
Highway police officer Fernando Montana said there were five women and one baby among those on the bus, HispanTV reported.

Nearly thirteen people onboard a public bus have died on the Tumaco-Pasto highway in southwest Colombia as a result of a landslide.

The mudslide, prompted by heavy rainfall, occurred between the cities of Tumaco and Pasto, which are located in the Nariño district of Colombia bordering Ecuador.

The head of the disaster relief agency for the province told Reuters that the landslide sent some 5,000 cubic meters of rock and earth down on to the highway, pushing the bus into the ravine.

Highway police officer Fernando Montana said there were five women and one baby among those on the bus, HispanTV reported.

Colombia's Director of the National Road Safety Agency, Alejandro Maya, expressed his condolences.

"I deeply regret the death of at least 13 people who were traveling in a public service vehicle on the Tumaco-Pasto highway, which were surprised by a landslide," he said on Twitter.

After the incident, several emergency teams arrived at the site to help remove debris to locate victims. Their work was suspended because of the steep terrain.

In March, a deadly mudslide in the southwestern town of Mocoa killed over 200 people.