26 people killed as massive landslide hits North Indian state of Manipur

Not less than 26 people have been killed with 37 declared missing as a massive landslide hit the northeast Indian state of Manipur, local authorities have said.

The landslide was the result of heavy rains which began on Wednesday till late Friday, coupled with falling boulders which hampered rescuers who have so far pulled out 26 bodies from the debris of the landslide which wiped out a railway construction site, the officials said in a statement on Saturday.

“Rescue work is expected to continue for a couple of days in rugged hilly terrain in Noney, a town near state capital Imphal, with little hope of finding survivors among 37 people still missing since Wednesday night.

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“Army personnel had been providing security for the railway officials because of a decades-old armed uprising seeking a separate homeland for ethnic and tribal groups in the area,” the statement noted.

Continuous rainfall over the past three weeks has wreaked havoc across India’s northeast with a total population of 45 million.

So far, an estimated 200 people have been killed in heavy downpours and mudslides in states including Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim, while 42 have died in Bangladesh since May 17, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

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