Death toll in Colombian landslide rises to 19

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A Saturday avalanche of mud and rubble in a poor hillside neighborhood in the northern Colombian city of Medellin killed 19 people, while up to eight more were missing, authorities said on Sunday.

The industrial city has been pounded by seasonal rains along with much of the rest of the Andean country. The slide buried about 20 homes. Among the dead was a boy who would have turned 15 on Sunday.

"I never thought we'd be spending his birthday like this," said his father, weeping in a television interview.

More than 100,000 people have been driven from their homes by flooding that has knocked down bridges, blocked roadways and damaged crops across the country.

(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein, Editing by Eric Walsh)