Mudslide kills 42 people in India with rescue mission underway
Dozens have been killed after a mudslide wiped out a railroad construction site in northeast India.
A desperate rescue mission was launched in the rugged hills of Noney, a town near Imphal, after the incident on Wednesday.
The death toll has now risen to 42, according to local reports in the Manipur state.
It came as eight more bodies – including one of a two-year-old child – were recovered on Sunday.
Among the dead are 27 Territorial Army soldiers, officials said today.
Twenty people are still missing, with search operations underway as heavy rain continues to pound down.
Union Minister of State Dr. Subhas Sarkar promised the central government was ready to provide all possible help.
Continuous rainfall has caused havoc across large parts of northeast India, affecting 45 million people as well as neighbouring Bangladesh.
Army personnel had been providing security for the railway officials because of a decades-old insurgency seeking a separate homeland for ethnic and tribal groups in the area.
Excavators have also been used to search for bodies in the rivers.
Amid bad weather across northeast India, 200 people have been killed in the heavy downpours and mudslides in states like Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim, while 42 have died in Bangladesh.
In India, hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
Scientists blame the hostile weather and mudslides on climate change.
Monsoon-type weather usually starts in Asia in June but the torrential rain began as early as March this year.
Experts have warned the monsoon season is becoming more variable because of climate change.
One consequence is that rain that would typically fall throughout the season arrives in a shorter period.
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