KAGALI: At least 20 people, many of them children, were killed overnight by devastating landslides in northern Rwanda triggered by torrential rainstorms, the disaster management ministry said Sunday.

“Up until now we have counted at least 20 dead in landslides in the district of Gakenke,” the ministry’s spokesman Frederic Ntawukuriryayo told AFP.

“Most of the victims were children,” Ntawukuriryayo added, without specifying how many were minors.

The landslides occurred at the peak of Rwanda’s rainy season, affecting homes on hillsides and in valleys. “It’s a huge catastrophe,” the spokesman said.