Landslide kills 16 people due to monsoon rains in India

A woman whose family was trapped under rubble after a landslide washed away houses in the Raigad district of Maharashtra Photo: Rafiq Makbool/AP

At least 16 people died on Thursday after a landslide crashed into them A village in western India's Maharashtra state said locals fear the death toll could rise significantly.

The national disaster response force said Thursday that 16 people had been killed and that they had canceled rescue operations due to incessant rain and «the threat of further landslide.»

But volunteer Santosh Kumar feared that the number could be higher.

“We didn't count the exact number of bodies, but my estimate was between 60 and 70 bodies. Of these, we buried between 12 and 14 bodies there,” Mr. Kumar told AFP, which was unable to independently confirm the claim.

Rescue teams battled heavy rain in the remote, hilly and wooded area of ​​Raigad, where people clambered over mounds of earth and rubble.

Rescuers work at the site of a landslide that killed 16 people and about 50 more are trapped in the rubble Photo: Rafik Maqbool/AP

Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of the state, said there were at least 1,000 workers on the rescue team.

Mr Fadnavis said about 200 people live in the area, 70 of whom were rescued.

Police Officer Harish Kalsekar previously stated that about 50 people are expected to be buried under the rubble.

About 1,000 workers are part of the rescue team. Photo: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

“It is raining, the terrain is hilly, so no heavy equipment can be moved there,” Kalsekar said.

A Mit Shah, Minister of the Interior, said the priority is “evacuation of people from the scene and immediate care for the injured.”

Since the beginning of the rainy season in June, India has been suffering from rains, and floods and landslides have claimed the lives of many people.

Relatives of those trapped under the rubble Photo: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

Monsoon rains are vital to replenish rivers and groundwater, but floods also cause widespread destruction every year.

Experts climate change is said to be increasing extreme weather events around the world, and damming, deforestation and development projects in India are exacerbating the loss of life.