Mudslide in India kills at least 19 and leaves 70 missing

At least 19 people have died and 70 are missing after a mudslide triggered by heavy rain in northeast India.

More than 200 disaster response workers and police are using earth-clearing equipment like bulldozers to rescue those buried under the debris in Noney, Manipur state.

District magistrate H. Guite said he has been forced to ask for more reinforcements at the construction site because the terrain is making it difficult to move heavy equipment.

Sixteen bodies have been recovered so far after a hillock caved in and buried the railroad project area, Guite added.

A flowing river has been blocked by the debris creating a dam-like structure in the area, he said.

Seven of the confirmed dead were members of the Territorial Army, state chief minister N. Biren Singh said. He said five Indian Railway officials were among those feared missing.

Because there is a rebel insurgency in the area, army personnel were there providing security for the railway officials. The state’s decades-old insurgency seeks a separate homeland for ethnic and tribal groups.

Most of the victims were sleeping when the landslide hit the area early Thursday. Some survivors recalled being swept down by the gush of the hill debris, The Times of India cited Daichuipao, a resident, as saying.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he reviewed the situation with local authorities. “Assured all possible support from the Centre (federal government),” he tweeted.

Continuous rainfall over the past three weeks has wreaked havoc across India’s northeast — which has eight states and 45 million people — and in neighbouring Bangladesh.

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

Scientists say climate change is a factor behind the erratic, early rains that triggered the unprecedented floods. Monsoon rains in South Asia typically begin in June, but torrential rain lashed northeastern India and Bangladesh as early as March this year.

With rising global temperatures due to climate change, experts say the monsoon season is becoming more variable, meaning that much of the rain that would typically fall throughout the season arrives in a shorter period.