Mudslide kills 5 Indian paramilitary soldiers in northeast

GAUHATI, India – Five Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed and another six injured as huge boulders rolled down on their bus following a mudslide triggered by monsoon rains in India’s remote northeast, police said Saturday.

The bus was carrying 20 soldiers on a narrow mountainous stretch to their nearby camp on Friday after a training exercise in Lower Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh state, said police officer S. Singpho.

A helicopter evacuated the injured to a nearby hospital, he said. The region is nearly 600 kilometres (375 miles) north of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.

It’s the second mudslide-related accident in the state within days. On June 24, five workers were buried alive when a wall of a building under construction collapsed on them.

Mudlslides are common in the June-September monsoon season in India.