INDIA, GUWAHATI: Authorities announced on Sunday that the death toll from a major landslide in India had risen to 37, as rescue workers fought torrential rain to look for 25 others who remained missing three days later.
After heavy rain early Thursday, a mud and rock wall inundated a camp holding railway construction workers and personnel of the Territorial Army in remote Manipur state in northeast India.
Within the first several hours of the tragedy, emergency personnel saved 18 people.
However, army spokesman Angom Bobin Singh announced on Sunday that 28 people were still missing before later announcing that three more dead had been recovered.
The fourth day of search activities was underway “despite severe weather conditions,” Singh added, citing “heavy rains and additional landslides.”
The distant northeast has relatively weak road and train infrastructure, but India has pushed ambitious infrastructure projects in recent years to match a Chinese buildup across the border.
The attractive region, which includes mountains and deep forests, has been pounded by torrential rain in recent weeks, causing landslides and floods.
Dozens of people were murdered in the area last month when water caused landslides and inundated homes.
Climate change, according to experts, is increasing the number of extreme weather events worldwide, with damming, deforestation, and development projects in India compounding the human toll.
Source: AFP
