A landslide has struck several vehicles traveling on a highway in the hills of northern India, killing at least eight people and trapping dozens of others, officials said. Thirteen people have been rescued so far from a bus, a truck and two cars that were hit by mud and rocks in the landslide in Himachal Pradesh state’s Kinnaur district, police said on Wednesday.
Those rescued have been taken to hospitals but are not seriously injured, district administrator Abid Hussain Sadiq said. More than 100 rescuers, including police and paramilitary personnel, were deployed to clear the rubble using four earth removers, police said in a statement. Ten ambulances waited to carry the injured to hospitals. The rescue work was picking up with weather improving in the area. Eight bodies have been recovered and about 25 to 30 people remain trapped, Sadiq said. Heavy rain has caused several landslides in Himachal Pradesh state over the past few weeks. The region is 600 kilometres (375 miles) north of New Delhi. Disasters caused by landslides and flooding are common in India during the June-September monsoon season.
In August, about 150 people were killed by landslides and flooding triggered by monsoon rains in western India’s Maharashtra state.
Experts say heavy rainfall along India’s western coast is in line with how rainfall patterns have changed in past years due to climate change, as the warming Arabian Sea drives more cyclones and more intense rainfall over short periods of time.
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