KATHMANDU (Web Desk) – At least 25 people, including 13 women, were killed and several others went missing on after landslides triggered by torrential rain in Nepal swept through two villages on Thursday.
The landslides struck the villages near the resort town of Pokhara, 125 km (77 miles) west of Kathmandu shortly after midnight. At least 19 people were killed and 22 houses were destroyed, said ministry spokesman Laxmi Dhakal.
Krishna Bahadur Raut, a government official in the area, told Reuters about a dozen people were missing.
Those killed include 11 women and eight men. Fourteen people have gone missing in a separate incident of landslide in Lumle, spokesperson said.
Read more: Landslides kill 15 in Nepal
Similarly, five person including two women were killed in the landslide in Bhadaure village of the district. Pokhara-Baglung Highway has also been damaged by the landslide, the officials said.
In Muna and Muduni villages of Myagdi district, 350 km west of Kathmandu a child was killed and five others went missing in separate incidents of landslide, the police said.
Soldiers and policemen officials were working in heavy rain using shovels and bare hands to search for villagers, most of whom were in their beds when the landslide struck.
The government has asked for mechanical diggers and other heavy equipment to help with the search, but their arrival from Pokhara has been held up landslides on the roads.
Army headquarters in Kathmandu also sent a helicopter in the incident sites to help in the rescue operations.
Scores of people die every year from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season in Nepal.
Despite years of preparation for earthquakes, the government had been slow to map landslide-prone areas.
Read more: Death toll from Nepal’s quake jumps to 7,757
Two powerful earthquakes in Nepal this year that killed almost 9,000 people are believed to made slopes across the mountainous country unstable and raised the risk of landslides during the rainy season, which lasts from June to September.
