Colombian mudslide - more than 300 dead

The death toll in the weekend mudslide that wiped away several neighbourhoods in the Colombian city of Mocoa has risen to 301.

The National Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Institute reported that of the 301 confirmed dead, 173 have been identified.

Earlier on Wednesday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos acknowledged there were still many people missing.

"This morning, 467 people have reported relatives to be missing. Of those, 153 have been located, 119 of them alive but, unfortunately, 34 of them deceased," said Santos in a statement.

Although the president provided no concrete figures, there could be more than 200 people buried under tonnes of rocks and mud that swept into and over several Mocoa neighbourhoods.