At least 30 killed in India landslide, 150 still trapped as rain hampers rescue

Heavy rain has hampered rescue efforts to dig through a remote village in western India where at least 30 people died as a landslide swept away scores of houses, possibly trapping many more people under debris, officials said. They had already worked through the night using floodlights mounted on jeeps and earthmoving vehicles to pull eight injured people out of the mud and twisted wreckage, Vitthal Banot, a disaster management official, said on Thursday. They were taken to a nearby government-run hospital, but their injuries were not life-threatening.

It’s surrounded by hills and the area is very remote and rural, so it’s taking us time to get there.

Alok Avasthy, National Disaster Response Force commander

Continuing rains and bad roads were hampering rescue efforts in Malin, a village in Pune district in Maharashtra state, Alok Avasthy, a National Disaster Response Force commander, told The Associated Press. Banot said 25 bodies had been recovered from under mud, rocks, trees and other debris. With 70 homes buried and reports of another 158 hit by the landslide, rescuers anticipated more casualties in the village, home to 704 people in the foothills of the Sahyadri Mountains.

Everything on the mountain came down.

Suresh Jadhav, district official

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