At least 24 killed after landslide in Ecuador's capital

A rain-weakened hillside collapsed in Ecuador's capital, sweeping over homes and a sports field and killing at least 22 people, city officials said Tuesday.

The Quito Security Department also said 32 people were injured and eight houses had collapsed in Monday's landslide, while others were damaged.

Neighbours had joined rescue workers in hunting through the ruins for survivors of the disaster that hit following nearly 24 hours of rainfall.

The storm was pounding outside when Imelda Pacheco said she felt her house move as if an earthquake had struck. Suddenly water and rocks began to pour in through doors and windows and she fled before the building was destroyed.

Residents and rescue workers search for people inside a car in La Gasca area on Tuesday. (Dolores Ochoa/The Associated Press)

Karen Maite, 16, is helped by rescue crews following the landslide in Quito on Tuesday. (Jonatan Rosas/Reuters)

"I barely had time to grab the hand of my four-year-old son and I ran to the stairs, to the terrace. Suddenly the walls in front and to the side disappeared," she told The Associated Press.

"We shouted to the neighbours on the first floor, but the water carried away the mother and daughter," she said, standing before the ruins of her home.

"I thought I was going to die with my son. I hugged him strongly and we shook, I think from the cold and the fear … We barely survived," she added, breaking into tears.

Firefighter rescue crews are seen as they continue searching homes and streets covered by mud in Quito on Tuesday. (Jonatan Rosas/Reuters)

A bulldozer collects mud and branches in the streets of Quito on Tuesday. (Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images)

Waves of mud, some three metres high, carried motorcycles, other vehicles, trash bins and other debris under a heavy rain Monday night in the neighbourhoods of La Gasca and La Comuna below the slopes of the Ruco Pinchincha mountain.

As the rescue began, police called for silence so that the cries of those trapped could be heard.

Residents console each other on Tuesday as bodies are recovered following the landslide. (Dolores Ochoa/The Associated Press)

A man on a bicycle tries to cross a muddy street in Quito on Tuesday after the flood. (Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images)

Quito Mayor Santiago Guarderas said the intense rains had saturated the soils, setting off the landslide.

Smaller waves of muddy water continued pouring down the ravine Tuesday morning past weary neighbours trying to move stones, tree trunks and debris. An overturned taxi and other vehicles were partly buried in mud on a sports field.

"I've lost everything. I don't have anything. Everything is over," said 65-year-old Laura Quinonez, who stood beside an ambulance as her neighbourxjmtzyws tried to recover appliances from their destroyed homes.