A mudslide at a Guatemalan lakeside resort killed at least 40 people yesterday as rains and flash floods whipped up by Hurricane Stan devastated Central America.

Rescue workers said that up to 800 people were still unaccounted for after Santiago Atitlan on the bank of Lake Atitlan — a collapsed volcanic cone filled with water which is a popular destination for British and US tourists — was hit. An unknown number of foreigners were trapped at the resort of Panajachel, also on Lake Atitlan. “The area was cut off by mudslides. We understand there is a good number of tourists there,” Carlos Aldana, the Defence Minister, said.

Rain-sodden hills crumbled throughout the region, burying peasants. Many lived in flimsy wooden and tin shacks.

“I have nothing, the water took everything,” said Basilio Garcia, weeping beside the body of his granddaughter, aged 10, in Tecpan, west of Guatemala City. Dozens of villages on Guatemala’s Pacific coast were cut off, and a potentially deadly mudslide was reported at Tacamulco volcano near the Mexico border.

Guatemala confirmed 119 deaths and predicted that the toll would rise. Hurricane Stan killed at least 65 people in El Salvador, 13 in Mexico, 10 in Nicaragua and three in Honduras. Troops tried to reach flooded areas with supplies, but relentless rains and washed out roads made it difficult.

Meteorologists predicted that the rains would continue for the rest of the week.

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