Nine killed by landslides in western Nepal

Jul 31, 2009, 10:34 GMT

   Kathmandu - At least nine people were killed and four injured after landslides hit three districts in western Nepal, officials said Friday.

   The landslides followed heavy monsoonal rains since Thursday night.

   The largest death toll was seen in Syangjha district, about 200 kilometres west of Kathmandu, where five people died when their homes were smashed by falling mud and rocks, police said.

   The victims, who included people in their 70s and a 5-year-old, were trapped in their homes Friday by debris when the side of a hill collapsed at Chitrebanjyang, the police said.

   Three more people died in the neighbouring Tanahun district and one person was killed in Dialekh district, police said.

   The latest deaths brought the total number of people killed by flash floods and landslides to at least 40 since heavy monsoonal rains began this week.

   The rains first hit eastern and central Nepal, including the capital, triggering landslides and flash floods.

   It has since moved to western Nepal, and reports said large parts of the Nepalese plains, known as the Terai, in western Nepal are under floodwaters.

   In Chitwan district, about 150 kilometres south-west of Kathmandu, a tourist resort near Chitwan National Park, famous for its Bengal tigers, was under water.

   Local media reports said dozens of hotels and lodges built for tourists were under about a metre of water after the Rapti River burst its banks.

   Landslides and flash floods are common in Nepal during the monsoon season, which lasts from early June to the end of September.