Rescuers battle rains after India landslide, 150 feared dead

Rescue workers dug through deep mud and debris on July 31 in search of victims of a major landslide in western India that buried homes, with the death toll expected to reach 150.

Following monsoon downpours in the Pune district of Maharashtra state, a hillside gave way early on July 30, sending a mass of muddy earth and trees tumbling onto a remote village while residents were sleeping.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said 23 bodies and eight survivors had so far been pulled from the site, but heavy rain was preventing rescuers from working quickly to find more survivors.

"Miracles do happen, we will keep looking, but under current conditions it is very, very bleak," said Alok Avasthy, a NDRF regional commandant at the scene. He said around 160 people were thought to have been trapped in the landslide, which damaged half of the village's 70 homes.

"The mud slide must have been massive and very quick considering it has covered an area roughly the size of a football field with nearly 10-15 feet (3-4.5 metres) of debris," Avasthy told AFP.

H.H. Chavan, Pune district's deputy director of health, said late July 30 that they expected to pull about another 140 bodies from the scene.

Television footage showed a chunk of hillside dramatically giving way and a cascade of mud, rocks and trees, sending up clouds of dust below. At the site where village homes earlier stood, twisted metal utensils and shreds of clothes were among the debris on July 31 morning.         

The ongoing heavy downpours and howling wind nearly masked the sound of heavy rescue machinery as it strained to move the slush. "The issue is that as we remove the mud, more is flowing in since the rains have been incessant," said...