28 dead in India landslides

At least 28 people in northern India died on Friday in landslides and flashfloods triggered by heavy overnight monsoon rains and about a dozen others are missing, a rescue official told AFP. The deaths occurred in the early hours after particularly heavy downpours in the Rudraprayag and Bageshwar districts of the scenic Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, Piyush Rautela from the state disaster management cell told AFP. A total of 19 bodies had been discovered in four villages in Rudraprayag and nine other corpses were found in Bageshwar, Rautela said. "We estimate that some 10 or 11 people are still buried under the rubble (in Rudraprayag)," Rautela added as rescue workers scrambled to locate survivors. "Many people are missing but we fear that the chances of survival are negligible," he said. Uttarakhand has experienced heavy and constant rainfall since Wednesday. At least 100 pilgrims traveling to the ancient Kedarnath Hindu temple, perched atop the Garhwal Himalayan range, were stuck en route due to several road closures caused by landslides, Rautela said. Efforts were under way to remove debris and clear blocked roads, he added. India has suffered from a variable monsoon season this year that has been too intense in some parts of the country and too feeble in others where drought-like conditions have prevented farmers from sowing summer crops. Excess rainfall in the northeast triggered destructive floods that displaced six million people, while much of the rest of the country sizzled without regular rainfall. Nationwide, the monsoon has been 10 percent below its seasonal average, according to figures released by the India Meteorological Department last week.