ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

UP landslide kills 69

At least 69 people are feared killed in landslides and flash floods triggered by incessant rains in the Garhwal region of northern Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Friday.

Unofficial reports put the death toll at more than 100. Several persons are reported missing.

The bulk of the casualties occurred in house collapses.

UP Home Secretary Naresh Dayala said four villages of the Rudraprayag district -- from where 20 deaths have been reported in the past two days -- were the worst affected.

In all, some 10 villages of Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts are affected by the rains. The communication systems have broken down.

Rudraprayag Sub Divisional Magistrate Lalitmohan Upreti said 15 bodies have been recovered so far.

The traffic on the Rudraprayag-Khimath route and the Link road has been disrupted. Pilgrim movement to the popular Hindu shrine of Kedarnath, situated at a height of about 12,000 feet above sea level, remained suspended for the second day. A large number of vehicles are reported to be stranded along the highway.

Dayal said relief operations have been taken up on a war footing. "We have pressed the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel to assist the civilian authorities," he said.

The weather bureau, meanwhile, says there is no hope of any respite from the rains in the next 24 hours. Continued rains in the plains have inundated large parts of eastern UP, where most of the rivers are in spate.

The floods have already taken a toll of about 153 lives in these areas since the outbreak of monsoon.

Additional reportage: UNI

Tell us what you think of this report