Crews pause recovery work to honor victims of Oso mudslie
Mar 28, 2014, 3:13 PM | Updated: Mar 29, 2014, 12:57 pm
Crews searching for victims in the tangled debris field from the Washington mudslide halted their work Saturday for a moment of silence to honor those lost.
Gov. Jay Inslee had asked people across Washington to pause at 10:37 a.m. The huge slide that destroyed a neighborhood in Oso north of Seattle struck at that time on March 22. Authorities say they’ve found at least 25 bodies and scores remain missing.
The grueling work with heavy equipment and bare hands in the mass of smashed homes, tree limbs and quicksand-like mud stopped briefly late Saturday morning.
“People all over stopped work –all searchers — in honor of that moment, so people we are searching for know we are serious,” Snohomish County Fire District 1 battalion chief Steve Mason said.
An American flag had been run up a tree and then down to half-staff at the debris site, he said.
The slide that struck 55 miles northeast of Seattle is one of the deadliest landslides ever in the United States.
Finding and identifying victims could stretch on for a very long time.
“It’s a very, very slow process. It was miserable to begin with, and as you all know, it has rained heavily in the last few days, it’s made the quicksand even worse,” Snohomish County Executive Director Gary Haakenson said at a Friday evening briefing. “I cannot possibly tell you how long this will last, or when, or if they will find more bodies. We hope that we do, but right now there’s no telling.”
Crews may be finding more remains amid the destruction, but Haakenson said the official death toll will remain at 17 until medical examiners can further complete their work.
Authorities have located at least eight other bodies in addition to the 17, and they previously said they expect the number of fatalities from the March 22 mudslide to rise substantially.
Inslee said he knows many people want to help and this moment will bring us all together to send thoughts and prayers to the families of Oso.
“I know that every Washingtonian holds in their heart the people of the Stillaguamish Valley and we all wish we could ease their pain,” the governor said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
