Manipur: At least 14 people were killed and another four dozen are feared to have been killed after a massive landslide in a remote area of the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur, reports said on Thursday.
At least 14 people were killed and more than 60 are feared buried after a rain-induced landslide wept a railway construction camp, where the workers were sleeping in a makeshift camp, in India’s northeast Manipur state.
The casualties follow the incessant rainfall across the seven northeastern states, which intensified in late June, killing 152 in Assam alone since mid-May. Many parts of Cachar’s Silchar town of Assam remained underwater for over eleven days.
However, India received 8% lower rainfall than average in June because of scanty rainfall in the central parts of the country, the state-run weather office said on Thursday.
Rescue workers in Noney district in Manipur on Thursday morning battled heavy rains and inclement weather to pull out nineteen survivors from the rubble after the landslide occurred at the Tupul railway construction site in the early hours. They said the likelihood of finding any more was thin.
“In all, there were about 81 people. The chances of survival of the remaining 55 people are very thin considering the fact that the landslide occurred around 2 am,” said Haulianlal Guite, district magistrate of Noney, as per reports.
Many of those killed belonged to the Territorial Army who guarded the construction site, reports said quoting the officials.
The landslide also obstructed the flow of a river, creating a dam-like water body that could lead to flooding if the debris are removed, leading to a complex environmental disaster.
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