Disasters & Accidents

India landslide death toll climbs to 16, dozens missing

New Delhi, July 21 (EFE).- Disaster management authorities on Friday raised the death toll in a landslide in western India to 16 with dozens still missing as rescue operations continued for a second consecutive day.

“So far 21 persons have been successfully rescued and 16 bodies recovered, including six males, six females and four children,” a spokesperson from the control room of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) told EFE, asking not to be named.

The landslide occurred in a small village of about 225 inhabitants in Maharashtra state’s Raigad district at midnight on Wednesday.

Authorities said it was triggered by heavy rains and buried 15 homes.

On Thursday, the NDRF and other local disaster management agencies began rescue operations, which were hampered by continuous rainfall and had to be called off at nightfall before resuming in the morning.

Heavy rainfall has led to the evacuation of nearly 11,500 people from four districts in the last three days, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the regional parliament on Thursday.

Several northern Indian states have also been affected by downpours in recent weeks, which left nearly 150 people dead and thousands trapped, while also leaving parts of the country’s capital under water.

Rains cause significant personal and material damage in South Asian countries especially during the monsoon period between May and September. EFE

daa/pd

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