Rescuers were searching Sunday for 20 villagers feared killed in a landslide in remote northeast India, as the death toll from days of torrential rains elsewhere in the country rose, officials said.
The side of a hill collapsed on Saturday on a village in Manipur state close to the border with Mynamar where monsoon downpours there have also triggered landslides and flooding.
Local magistrate Memi Mary said a handful of rescuers reached the village by trekking on foot after blocked roads hampered efforts to reach the site, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Manipur capital Imphal.
"So far we have reports of 20 people killed when a hillock caved and trapped the villagers," the magistrate told AFP by telephone from the nearby town of Chandel.
Photos showed a bridge washed away by floodwaters in Manipur, while TV stations showed footage of a house collapsing and families sleeping in make-shift evacuation centres.
The national government has ordered rescue and relief teams be sent to the state as the annual monsoon wreaks havoc across the region.
In West Bengal, some 42 people have been killed in the last week from flooding, while some 250,000 homes have been destroyed, state disaster management minister Javed Ahmad Khan said.
"The situation is going to worsen. All rivers are flowing above their danger marks," Khan told AFP.
The flooding in West Bengal has spiked in recent days after the remnants of Cyclone Komen swept across the state from the Bay of Bengal.
In the far western state of Gujarat, the death toll from floods has reached 53, after more drownings, electrocutions and other incidents.
More than 10,000 people have been evacuated across Gujarat in the past week. But officials said waters were now receding, allowing power and communications to be restored.
"The death toll has reached 53 since July 26 with 23 deaths in the worst-affected Banaskantha district alone," an official in the state's emergency control room told AFP.
The monsoon, vital for South Asia including for crop production, routinely brings flooding and destruction. India receives nearly 80 percent of its annual rainfall from June to September.
Rescuers were searching Sunday for 20 villagers feared killed in a landslide in remote northeast India, as the death toll from days of torrential rains elsewhere in the country rose, officials said.
The side of a hill collapsed on Saturday on a village in Manipur state close to the border with Mynamar where monsoon downpours there have also triggered landslides and flooding.
Local magistrate Memi Mary said a handful of rescuers reached the village by trekking on foot after blocked roads hampered efforts to reach the site, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Manipur capital Imphal.
“So far we have reports of 20 people killed when a hillock caved and trapped the villagers,” the magistrate told AFP by telephone from the nearby town of Chandel.
Photos showed a bridge washed away by floodwaters in Manipur, while TV stations showed footage of a house collapsing and families sleeping in make-shift evacuation centres.
The national government has ordered rescue and relief teams be sent to the state as the annual monsoon wreaks havoc across the region.
In West Bengal, some 42 people have been killed in the last week from flooding, while some 250,000 homes have been destroyed, state disaster management minister Javed Ahmad Khan said.
“The situation is going to worsen. All rivers are flowing above their danger marks,” Khan told AFP.
The flooding in West Bengal has spiked in recent days after the remnants of Cyclone Komen swept across the state from the Bay of Bengal.
In the far western state of Gujarat, the death toll from floods has reached 53, after more drownings, electrocutions and other incidents.
More than 10,000 people have been evacuated across Gujarat in the past week. But officials said waters were now receding, allowing power and communications to be restored.
“The death toll has reached 53 since July 26 with 23 deaths in the worst-affected Banaskantha district alone,” an official in the state’s emergency control room told AFP.
The monsoon, vital for South Asia including for crop production, routinely brings flooding and destruction. India receives nearly 80 percent of its annual rainfall from June to September.
