Torrential rain in India’s Himalayas triggered landslides over the weekend that have killed at least 41 people, with over a dozen trapped or missing, officials said on Monday.
Television footage from India’s Himachal Pradesh state showed houses flattened by landslides, buses and cars hanging on the edge of precipices after roads gave way, and hundreds of people at rescue sites as emergency workers struggled to clear debris.
“Again, tragedy has befallen Himachal Pradesh, with continuous rainfall over the past 48 hours,” the state’s chief minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, said in a post on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Reports of cloudbursts and landslides have emerged from various parts of the state resulting in loss of precious lives and property.”
At least 41 people have died in rain-related incidents since Sunday and 13 were still missing, according to a report by the state disaster management department, seen by Reuters.
In one the most deadly incidents, a temple collapsed in the state capital, Shimla, with rescuers pulling out at least nine bodies, the chief minister said.—Reuters
