NNA – At least 20 people have died in a landslide that buried a railway construction site in northeastern India, the army said today, as relief teams continued to search for dozens of missing persons. The majority of the victims were reservists in the ground forces who were working on a railway construction project in the state of Manipur, according to “Agence France-Presse”.
And the army announced in a statement, “18 survivors have been found so far, while 15 reservists and 29 civilians are still missing.”
“A relief team is doing digging in the mud and lifting rocks in search of survivors,” army spokesman Sumit Kumar Sharma said.
“The loss of lives, including members of our armed forces, is very sad,” Manipur local authority chief Birn Singh wrote on Twitter, noting that “more than fifty people are still missing.”
The isolated region of northeastern India has seen heavy rains in recent weeks, causing landslides and floods. At least ten people died at the beginning of the year due to floods and landslides following unusually heavy rains in several parts of India.
Experts believe that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events in the world, including in India. Dams, deforestation and development projects in this country contribute to disasters that are increasing in severity in terms of human losses.
============
Follow the news of the National News Agency on Radio Lebanon on the 98.5, 98.1 and 96.2 FM waves
