KHARTOUM — At least 1,000 people died when a landslide wiped out an entire village in Sudan’s western region of Darfur in one of the deadliest natural disasters in the country’s recent history, the Associated Press repaorted citing a rebel group controlling the region.

The tragedy happened Sunday in the village of Tarasin in Central Darfur’s Marrah Mountains after days of heavy rainfall in late August, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army said in a statement late Monday.

“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than 1,000 people. Only one person survived,” the statement read.

The village was “completely leveled to the ground,” the group said, appealing to the UN and international aid groups for help to recover the bodies.

A UN official confirmed the landslide has killed at least 370 people in the remote Marra Mountains. Antoine Gérard, the UN's deputy humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, said it was hard to assess the scale of the incident or the exact death toll as the area was very hard to reach.

He said getting aid quickly to the area would be difficult. "We do not have helicopters, everything goes in vehicles on very bumpy roads. It takes time and it is the rainy season - sometimes we have to wait hours, maybe a day or two to cross a valley... bringing in trucks with commodities will be a challenge," Gérard said.

Days of heavy rain triggered the landslide on Sunday, the rebel group led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour said.

The group appealed to the United Nations and international aid agencies to help recover the bodies of victims, including men, women and children.

Footage shared by the Marrah Mountains news outlet showed a flattened area between mountain ranges with a group of people searching the area

The tragedy came as a devastating civil war has engulfed Sudan after tensions between the country’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) exploded into open fighting in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

Most of the Darfur region, including the Marrah Mountains, has become mostly inaccessible for the UN and aid groups given crippling restrictions and fighting between Sudan’s military and the RSF.

The Sudan Liberation Movement-Army, centered in the Marrah Mountains area, is one of multiple rebel groups active in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. It hasn’t taken sides in the war.

The Marrah Mountains are a rugged volcanic chain extending for 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of el-Fasher, an epicenter of fighting between the military and the RSF. The area has turned into a hub for displaced families fleeing fighting in and around el-Fasher.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, forced more than 14 million to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine swept parts of the country.

It has been marked by gross atrocities including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the United Nations and rights groups. The International Criminal Court said it was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The village of Tarasin is located in the central Marrah Mountains, a volcanic area with a height of more than 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) at its summit. A world heritage site, the mountain chain is known for its lower temperature and higher rainfall than surrounding areas, according to UNICEF. It’s located more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) west of the capital city of Khartoum.

Sunday’s landslide was one of the deadliest natural disasters in Sudan’s recent history. Hundreds of people die every year in seasonal rains that run from July to October. Last year’s heavy rainfall caused the collapse of a dam in the eastern Red Sea Province, killing at least 30 people, according to the UN.

Darfur's army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, called the landslide a "humanitarian tragedy".

"We appeal to international humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone," he said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

The head of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, called on the warring parties to "to silence the guns and unite in facilitating the swift and effective delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance to those in need".

The two-year civil war has left more than half the population facing crisis levels of hunger and driven millions from their homes with the capital of North Darfur state, Al-Fashir, being under fire. Many residents from North Darfur state had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region.

Estimates for death toll from the civil war vary significantly, but a US official last year estimated up to 150,000 people had been killed since hostilities began in 2023. About 12 million have fled their homes. — Agencies