/photo alliance, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Rafiq Maqbool
At least ten people have died in a landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rains in India. Dozens more people were believed to be under the earth and rubble of a village in Maharashtra state yesterday, authorities said.
Search and rescue operations in the remote Raigad district have been hampered by continued heavy rains. More than 200 people were living in the village until the crash, Maharashtra Deputy Prime Minister Devendra Fadnavis said yesterday.
We have rescued about 70 people so far, 21 of whom are injured. According to official Harish Kalsekar, police assumed there were nearly 50 people buried. It is raining and the terrain is mountainous, so heavy equipment cannot be transported there, the policeman said.
Interior Minister Amit Shah said the main task of rescue teams was to evacuate people from the crash site and treat the injured.
In India, there have been heavy monsoon rains in recent days, which have already killed many people in floods and landslides.
Monsoons are vital for India to replenish water and aquifers, but they also bring death and destruction. According to scientists, climate change is leading to heavier and harder to predict monsoon rains. © afp/aerzteblatt.de
