Mogadishu, Jumada II 5, 1438, Mar 4, 2017, SPA -- At least 69 people have been killed within 24 hours by a cholera outbreak in Somalia, a local government official said Saturday. Mostly children and elderly people died in villages surrounding the town of Baido in the East African nation's Bay region, since authorities were alerted about the outbreak on Friday, regional humanitarian chief Abdullahi Omar Roble told dpa. More than 70 people were hospitalized due to the outbreak, which was caused by water shortages in the country, Roble added. Not enough medication was available to treat all patients, Roble said. Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. The infection is caused by food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera. The outbreak comes days after Somalia declared a national disaster in drought-affected areas. The drought is affecting 6.2 million people, with aid agencies fearing the situation could escalate into a famine. --SPA 14:44 LOCAL TIME 11:44 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w345561