HUNDREDS REPORTEDLY DEAD AFTER SEVERE LANDSLIDE STRIKES PAPUA NEW GUINEA VILLAGE
One man was stuck in chest-high mud for hours, television showed, struggling to free himself until rescue workers finally reached him.
Rescuers help residents to move to a safer location after multiple landslides in the southern state of Kerala, India, on July 30, 2024. (REUTERS/Stringer)
"More than 50 dead bodies have been found but it is difficult to establish a proper count as many body parts have been spotted in the river," the state chief minister's spokesman, P.M. Manoj, told Reuters by phone.
Nearly 350 families lived in the affected region, mostly tea and cardamom estates, and 250 people had been rescued so far, state officials said. Many others are missing.
Army engineers were roped in to help build an alternate bridge after the one that linked the affected area to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed, the chief minister's office said in a statement.
The weather office said there was extremely heavy rainfall over north and central Kerala so far on Tuesday, with more rain predicted through the day.
Tuesday's landslides are the worst disaster there since 2018 when heavy floods killed almost 400 people.
State cabinet minister M B Rajesh earlier said that at least 44 people were killed and 250 had been shifted to temporary shelters, but rescue efforts were hampered due to the collapse of a bridge.
"We fear the gravity of this tragedy is much more. Rescue operations are being carried out by various agencies on a war footing," Rajesh said.
