Officials say massive floods and landslides in southern Mexico have killed at least nine people, with more than 20 still missing, and caused a health emergency that will last for month.
Health Secretary Jose Cordoba says three people were killed in Tabasco state by the floods that started 11 days ago, while six people died in mudslides earlier this week in neighbouring Chiapas state, where "more than 20 people are still missing."
Much of Tabasco was still under water, including its capital Villahermosa, where levels have dropped by one to two metres, exposing hundreds of rotting carcasses of cattle and other animals.
Mr Cordoba said the decaying bodies and materials in the water - as well as the broken sewage system and lack of drinking water - are a major health risk and that a health emergency in the flooded areas will likely continue for a long time.
"The situation in Tabasco is under control, free of disease outbreaks, but the risk is not over," he said.
"The health alert will be enforced two or three months depending on how quickly the waters recede."
Villahermosa officials said a huge trench, 50 square metres and eight metres deep, was being dug in the city to dump and bury some 2,000 dead cattle and pets found in the area.
Mr Cordoba said some 10,000 people in Tabasco were still refusing to leave their flooded homes for fear of looting, but that health authorities had set up a "boat caravan" to deliver needed vaccines and medical treatment to stranded people.
More than half of Tabasco's 2 million inhabitants have been affected by the floods, with nearly 100,000 evacuated from their homes. Local media estimate flooding damage to property in the state at around $US1 billion ($1.07 billion). © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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