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Meghalaya landslide: Death toll rises to 7, heavy rain continues to lash region
Torrential rainfall caused a landslide in Ri-Bhoi district on June 17.
Seven people, including a minor, were killed after torrential rainfall caused a landslide in Meghalaya's Ri-Bhoi district early Saturday morning. The victims were mostly labourers.
Officials said the missing have been presumed dead after a day of searching for their bodies proved futile.
The death toll rose to seven following the recovery of the body of a missing woman from the debris on Sunday morning in Tharia area in Ri-Bhoi district, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) official Merinpole Sangma told IANS.
The latest disaster caused by heavy rainfall has taken the landslide-related death toll in the Northeast this week to 17. Five others have either drowned or were electrocuted in flooded area in Assam.
Relief and rescue officials said 30 workers of a plywood factory at Tharia village, some 20 km from state capital Shillong, were living dangerously in sheds by the roadside. The workers were from Assam.
"The bodies of four were recovered from the debris while the search for two others missing is on. The injured have been taken to hospitals in Shillong, " Ri-Bhoi deputy commissioner Chinmay Pundlikrao Gotmare told HT.
Heavy rainfall continued to lash large swathes of the Northeast for three days after a brief sunny break. Many areas of Imphal valley have been flooded as are eight districts of Assam displacing at least 35,000 people.
(With IANS inputs)
