Mudslides caused by heavy monsoon rains trapped workers building a tunnel in northern India yesterday as 41 more deaths were reported across South Asia, taking the region's death toll to 1,972 in a season of heavy and destructive rains.
Hundreds of rescuers were trying to reach the 20 workers near Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, 375km north of New Delhi, said Navin Kumar, an engineer for the Patel Construction Company, the tunnel's builder.
PHOTO: AP
The tunnel's entrance was blocked by mudslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains overnight, Kumar said. The fate of the trapped workers was not known.
Meanwhile, a flood-swollen river was overflowing a major dam in western India, threatening hun-dreds of villages. Twenty-nine people died during the past 24 hours in the Bharuch district in India's western Gujarat state, police said.
The Narmada River dam, one of the largest in India, was overflowing by more than 4m, S.K. Mahapatra, the dam's administrator. He said the amount of water flowing was more than 25 times the levels of a week ago at the 110m-high dam.
``Because of continuing rain in the last 72 hours, it has started overflowing dangerously. We are monitoring the situation with the help of satellite images,'' Mahapatra said.
Thirty villages have been put on alert for emergency evacuation, he said.
The flooding in Gujarat has affected some 300,000 farmers and their crops of peanuts, cotton and sunflowers, said Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
In Bangladesh, the official flood death toll stood at 691 after eight more deaths were reported on Saturday, the Disaster Management Ministry said. The floodwaters have receded from most parts, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said.
Four people were electrocuted in Arada village in Orissa in heavy rains, said police official R. Parida. Utility wires fell on the men when they were inspecting their crops.
Indian officials also said that a lake formed by landslides in China's Tibet region is threatening to burst its banks and inundate hundreds of villages in Indian territory. The lake, rising by the hour, is 6km by 1.5km, said L.R. Jhamtha, a government official in India's Himachal Pradesh state.
A team of Indian experts planned to leave for Tibet later yesterday to assess the situation, Jhamtha said.
Jhamtha said villagers at risk in Himachal Pradesh were being evacuated.
The lake last overflowed in August 2000, killing more than 100 people and washing away dozens of bridges and roads in Himachal Pradesh.
At least 1,152 people have died in India, 691 in Bangladesh, 124 in Nepal and five in Pakistan from the monsoon since June, mostly from drowning, mudslides and diseases. Last year's monsoon ended in October after killing 1,500 people.
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