India landslide death toll rises to 37 / Photo: © INDIAN ARMY/AFP
India landslide death toll rises to 37
The death toll from a massive landslide in India hit 37 on Sunday, authorities said, as rescue teams battled teeming rain to search for 25 others still missing three days later.
A wall of mud and rock swamped a camp housing railway construction workers and members of the Territorial Army in remote Manipur state in the northeast after heavy rain early on Thursday.
Emergency teams rescued 18 survivors within the first few hours of the incident.
But army spokesperson Angom Bobin Singh said Sunday that 28 people were still missing before an announcement later that three more bodies had been retrieved.
The fourth day of search operations was ongoing "despite adverse weather conditions" because of "heavy rains and fresh landslides", Singh said.
The remote northeast has generally poor road and railway infrastructure but India in the last few years has pushed ambitious infrastructure projects to match a Chinese build-up across the border.
The picturesque region -- with mountains and dense forests -- has been pummelled by heavy rainfall in recent weeks, triggering landslides and floods.
Dozens were killed in the area after flooding last month, with relentless rains causing landslides and inundating homes.
Experts say climate change is increasing the number of extreme weather events around the world, with damming, deforestation and development projects in India exacerbating the human toll.
L.M. Del Campo--ESF
