INDIA: POLICE in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh were searching for bodies yesterday following a dam burst two days ago that left 24 people missing and ten dead in nearby villages.
"No new bodies have been found. The relief work is in full swing despite persistent rains in the area," Insp Gen of Police Sukhraj Singh said.
The nearly 100-year-old dam in in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district burst on Tuesday when heavy rains caused the cracks on its walls to widen leading to flooding of nearly two dozen villages.
Three thousand people were marooned by the waters and the people have been housed in temporary shelters by the state government. More than 500 houses and a railway bridge were also washed away.
The Madhya Pradesh state government yesterday suspended three employees of the irrigation department for ignoring complaints by the villagers who had pointed out that the dam had become unsafe. The state government announced aid of 500,000 rupees. More than 800 people have died in monsoon floods and landslides in India, Nepal and Bangladesh this year. Police and soldiers yesterday pulled 41 bodies from the rubble of a Nepalese village which was destroyed by a landslide, state-run radio said.
The death toll from the disaster could rise, as up to 100 people were feared buried in the village of Bamti in Ramechhap district, 80 km southeast of Kathmandu.
Elsewhere, at least one person died and at least 40 are missing after a bus plunged into a swollen mountain river in Nepal yesterday, police said.