Eleven people from one family died Sunday in Panama when their home was swept away in a flash flood as they slept, officials said.

Nine of them were minors, said Carlos Rumbo, head of the national civil protection service.

Two other people are missing in the sudden rise of the Bejuco River in Veraguas province west of Panama City.

President Laurentino Cortizo expressed his condolences on Twitter.

The civil protection service had warned Sunday of heavy storms with lightning and gusting winds in much of the Central American country.

[AFP]