At least seven people have died, local authorities said on Thursday, and it is feared that another 55 people may have been killed in a massive landslide in a remote area of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur.
Amid heavy rain and severe weather, rescue teams pulled 19 survivors from rubble Thursday morning after a landslide hit a railroad construction site early in the morning, but they said the chances of finding other survivors were slim.
“About 81 people were at the scene,” Khulianlal Geith, an official from Manipur’s Noni district, told Reuters by telephone. The chances of surviving the remaining 55 are very small, given that the collapse occurred around two in the morning. Unprecedented levels of rain have hit India’s northeastern states as well as neighboring Bangladesh this month, killing more than 150 people. Millions of people have been displaced from their homes by devastating floods in recent weeks, and some low-lying areas have been inundated.
