BENGALURU, INDIA: Landslides in India triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 24 people and hundreds more are feared trapped under mud and debris, officials said on Tuesday.
The southern coastal state of Kerala has been lashed by torrential downpours and the collapse of a key bridge at the disaster site in Wayanad district has slowed rescue efforts, according to local media reports.
“So far we have received 24 bodies in different hospitals,” Kerala State Health Minister Reena George told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“Many are injured, they are being treated” in district hospitals, she added.
Images released by the National Disaster Response Force show rescue crews carrying bodies on stretchers from the disaster site through muddy ground and scattered debris thrown up by the force of the landslide.
The Indian Army said it had deployed more than 200 troops to the area to assist state security forces and fire crews in search and rescue efforts.
“The suspects are hundreds of people who were trapped,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had assured the Kerala government of “all possible help” with the situation.
“My thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones and my prayers are with those injured,” he said in a post on the X social media platform.
More rainfall and strong winds were forecast in Kerala on Tuesday, according to the state disaster management agency.
India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who until recently represented Wayanad in parliament, said he was “deeply saddened” by the disaster.
“I hope those who are still imprisoned will be brought to safety soon,” he added.
Several people injured in the landslides were taken to a hospital in the district for treatment.
Monsoon rains across the region from June to September offer relief from the summer heat and are key to replenishing water supplies.
They are vital to agriculture and thus to the livelihoods of millions of farmers and to food security for nearly two billion people in South Asia.
But they also bring destruction in the form of landslides and floods.
The number of deadly floods and landslides has increased in recent years, and experts say climate change is making the problem worse.
Dams, deforestation and development projects in India have also increased the number of human casualties.
Intense monsoon storms hit India earlier this month, flooding parts of the financial capital Mumbai, while lightning strikes in the eastern state of Bihar killed at least 10 people.
At least 25 people were killed in floods and landslides across Kerala in 2021. In 2018, nearly 500 people were killed around Kerala during the worst floods to hit the state in nearly a century.
