Dozens of houses in six villages of Bulambuli district in eastern Uganda submerged in landsides triggered by heavy rainfall.

More than 10 people have been killed and many others are feared dead after heavy rains caused landslides in eastern Uganda.

The Uganda Red Cross Society said on Thursday at least 13 bodies had been recovered after landslides “completely buried” 40 homes in six villages of the mountainous district of Bulambuli the previous night.

Images on local media showed huge swaths of fallen earth covering the land in the village of Masugu, about a five-hour drive from the capital, Kampala. Videos and photographs shared on social media purported to show people digging for survivors in the village of Kimono.

The Uganda Red Cross Society said the rescue effort was continuing but the death toll was likely to rise.

“We lost about 30 people,” district commissioner Faheera Mpalanyi told the AFP news agency, adding that six bodies, including that of a baby, had been recovered so far.

“Given the devastation and the size of the area affected and from what the affected families are telling us, several people are missing and probably buried in the debris,” she said.

The heavy rains in recent days caused flooding in the northwest after a tributary of the Nile River burst its banks, prompting the prime minister’s office to issue a disaster alert on Wednesday, saying that main roads across the country had been cut off.

Emergency teams were sent to rescue stranded motorists.

A road connecting the country with South Sudan was impassable late on Wednesday, with emergency boat crews deployed near the town of Pakwach.

“Unfortunately, one of the boats capsized, resulting in the death of one engineer,” Uganda’s defence forces said on X.

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• Kristian James Samuel White, an Australian police officer, has been found guilty of manslaughter for shocking a 95-year-old nursing home resident with a Taser.
• The jury in Sydney deliberated for 20 hours before reaching the verdict on Wednesday.
• White, who is on bail, faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced later.

A police officer who shocked a 95-year-old nursing home resident with a Taser was found guilty of manslaughter in an Australian court Wednesday.

A jury found Kristian James Samuel White guilty in the trial in Sydney after 20 hours of deliberation. White, who is on bail, could get up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced later.

Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother who had dementia and used a walker, was refusing to put down the steak knife she was holding when the officer discharged his Taser at her in May 2023. Nowland fell backward after White shocked her and died a week later in hospital.

GRANDMOTHER, 95, DIES AFTER POLICE SHOCK HER WITH STUN GUN: ‘COMMUNITY IS OUTRAGED’

Police said at the time that Nowland sustained her fatal injuries from striking her head on the floor, rather than directly from the device’s debilitating electric shock.

White’s employment is under review and is subject to legal processes, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters after the verdict.

“The court has found Claire Nowland died as a result of the actions of a police officer. This should never have happened,” Webb said, as she offered her “deepest condolences” to Nowland’s family. The state’s police reviewed its Taser policy and training in January and no changes to it were made, she added.

In video footage played during the New South Wales Supreme Court trial, White was heard saying “nah, bugger it” before discharging his weapon, after the officers told Nowland 21 times to put the knife down. White, 34, told the jury he had been taught that any person wielding a knife was dangerous, the Guardian reported.

ALABAMA POLICE OFFICER ON LEAVE AFTER VIDEO SHOWS HER USING STUN GUN ON HANDCUFFED MAN

But after an eight-day trial, the jury rejected arguments by White’s lawyers that his use of the Taser was a proportionate response to the threat posed by Nowland, who weighed about 100 pounds.

The prosecutor argued that White’s use of the Taser was was “utterly unnecessary and obviously excessive,” local news outlets said.

The extraordinary case provoked debate about how officers in the state use Tasers, a device that incapacitates using electricity.

Nowland, a resident of Yallambee Lodge, a nursing home in the town of Cooma, was survived by eight children, 24 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.