At least 24 people died including nine children in a landslide that hit the village of Zerger, in the Uzgen district, in Kyrgyzstan on April 29, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

“All 24 citizens of Kyrgzystan, nine of them children, died under the landslide in the south of the country,” said emergencies ministry spokeswoman Elmira Sheripova, updating an initial statement that reported four dead and at least 20 missing.

She said 24 people were dead under the mass of debris estimated at one million cubic meters.

The emergencies minister, Kubatbek Boronov, flew to the scene on the orders of President Almazbek Atambayev to take “all possible measures to alleviate the consequences of the landslide and give all necessary help to families of the dead,” said a statement on the president’s website.

The landslide is believed to have covered 11 houses, four of which were empty, Boronov was quoted as saying by local media.

Over 250 rescue workers including medics and soldiers were reportedly at the scene.