Landslide in western Nepal kills at least 12

Oct 6, 2009, 7:30 GMT

   Kathmandu - At least 12 people were killed and two injured Tuesday when a landslide triggered by unseasonably heavy rains hit a remote village in western Nepal, media reports said.

   The landslide struck the village of Gorkhagaon in the Dadeldhura district, about 500 kilometres west of Kathmandu after heavy rain began falling Sunday evening, independent Kantipur Television reported.

   The television station quoted police as saying the early morning landslide swept away two houses while their occupants slept inside, killing most of them.

   The dead included seven children, among them a 6-month-old infant. Two other children were pulled out of the rubble alive by rescue workers, the television station said.

   Additional police and rescue workers were dispatched to the area but hilly terrain and continuing bad weather were hampering search operations, the report said.

   The country's meteorological department said in a statement that large parts of western Nepal had received rains in excess of 10 centimetres in 24 hours.

   A statement issued by the meteorological department said Dhangadhi town in western Nepal had received 123 millimetres of rain in a 24-hour period ending Monday evening and more rains were expected.

   Elsewhere in the region, heavy rains led to flash floods on Nepal's plains, known as the Terai and bordering India.

   Nepalese media reports said rivers in the region were flowing above danger levels and in some parts breached their banks and flooded farmland, damaging paddy ready to be harvested.