Funerals have been held for some of the 14 people killed in a landslide that struck a mountain monastery in Ethiopia's northern Amhara region, where worshippers had gathered for an overnight prayer session. The hillside above the Orthodox Church monastery collapsed in the early hours of Monday morning, and rescue efforts for others feared trapped in the debris have now been halted.

The monastery, Tsadqane Debre Mitmaq St Mary, includes a prayer chamber carved into the mountainside, where the faithful had gathered for the special service. "The land above the cave… slid after the heavy rain that lasted throughout the night," Dagnachew Azbite, a senior local official, told the BBC. Seven people were found injured, five of them seriously, he added.

The service included a holy water cleansing ritual, popular among Orthodox Christians seeking spiritual healing for chronic illnesses. "Many of those who died had gathered to receive the holy water," Megabe Hadis Neka Tibeb Ababu, the diocese's general manager, told the Associated Press. Eleven of the deceased have been buried at the monastery, while the bodies of the others have been returned to their hometowns for burial. Identifying some of the victims remains a challenge, Megabe said.

Emergency teams, security personnel, healthcare workers, and nearby residents joined the search and rescue operations, according to local authorities. Archbishop Abune Klementos, head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church's North Shewa Diocese, traveled to the monastery to lead funeral prayers, pray for the injured, and comfort grieving families.

Landslides are a recurring hazard in Ethiopia during the main rainy season, which typically runs from June to August. In March, more than 100 people were killed in floods and landslides in the southern Gamo Zone. In July 2024, a landslide in the neighboring Geze Gofa Zone killed more than 229 people, including rescuers, making it one of the country's deadliest weather-related disasters in recent years. Over the past two decades, studies have documented a rise in both extreme wet spells and prolonged dry periods across East Africa. Scientists have repeatedly cautioned that human-driven climate change is making severe weather events - such as intense, long-lasting downpours - more frequent and more severe.