Mudslide kills 17 in India’s remote northeast

GAUHATI, India – Torrential rains triggered a mudslide that buried a labour camp in India’s remote northeast bordering China early Friday, killing 17 people, police said.

Rescuers found 16 bodies in the camp in Tawang, a tourist spot in Arunachal Pradesh state, and another injured worker died on the way to a hospital, police officer Anto Alphonse said.

The workers, who were building a hotel at the mountainous site, were sleeping in the camp when the mudslide occurred.

Three workers escaped unhurt from the camp, located at an altitude of more than 3,000 metres (7,500 feet), he said. The area was lashed by pre-monsoon rains this week.

Rescue work ended after all of the workers were accounted for, Alphonse said.

Landslides are common in the area, but usually during the monsoon season, which runs from June through September.

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