UPDATED: 2 killed in Shovi landslide
UPDATED: 2 killed in Shovi landslide

00:41

About 50 people cannot be reached after a landslide hit Shovi resort, killing two people, said the Deputy Head Of the Regional Development Department, Merab Gamkrelidze.

00:23

About 152 people have been evacuated from the disaster zone in Georgia’s western Shovi resort.

00:21

Georgian Interior Ministry has launched a hotline 598 913 089.

22:30

About 400 firefighters and rescuers of the Emergency Management Service, and the representatives of all relevant agencies are involved in the rescue efforts, the Interior Ministry has said.

Deputy Interior Ministers Ioseb Chelidze and Giorgi Butkhuzi, as well as Teimuraz Mgebrishvili, the Head of the Emergency Management Service, are present at the site of the disaster zone,” reads the MIA statement.

21:27

Two individuals were killed in a landslide in Georgia’s western Shovi resort, GPB has just learned from the Interior Ministry.

20:17

The country’s Interior Ministry said about 70 individuals have been evacuated from the disaster zone.

19:50

40 people, including five children, have been evacuated from the disaster zone, the MIA’s press office reported, adding “rescue efforts are underway.”

18:30

“The landslide destroyed roads and bridges in Shovi resort, a rescue team is on the scene, while the helicopter is on its route to Shovi,” Racha Governor told GPB First Channel.

“As of yet, we know nothing about the injured. Work has already begun. We’re reaching out to those who are trapped there. The cottages are also collapsed. The first step will be to evacuate the population, and we are developing a strategy for that,” Margvelidze stated.

18:21

The Roads Department of Georgia said it would kick off ‘as swiftly as possible’ the clearing and restoration works of the damaged road, adding swollen river Chanchakhi swept away the bridges on the 136th and 139th kilometers of the Kutaisi-Alpana-Mamisoni pass highway. The movement of all types of vehicles is prohibited on the mentioned sections of the road.

17:06

The MIA said all relevant agencies were alerted, and the required equipment was deployed to the site.

16:44

The landslide hit Georgia’s Shovi resort, Racha Governor Papuna Margvelidze told GPB First Channel, adding that Georgian Interior Ministry (MIA) representatives have been deployed to the scene.