Nepal landslides kill 11 after heavy rains

Landslides triggered by heavy rains killed 11 people in western Nepal on Tuesday, including a teenage boy and four young girls, police said.

An overnight downpour sent mud and stones hurtling down the slopes of the hilly district of Pyuthan, burying two houses in two different villages around dawn.

‘Eight people from two different families were found dead after their homes were buried by landslides due to torrential rainfall,’ said Ranjit Singh Rathod, Pyuthan district police chief.

The victims included a couple and their three daughters all aged under 10 in Rajwara village, while a family of three, including a seven-year-old girl, died in the nearby settlement of Puja.

‘The dead bodies have been recovered (after) a rescue operation was carried out jointly by police and locals,’ Rathod told AFP.

Another three people lost their lives in Gorkha district when a landslide slammed into a trail used by villagers on Tuesday morning, local police chief Birendra Thapa said.

‘Two women who were 45 and 30 years old and a 15-year-old boy were confirmed dead... Three others have been taken to hospital for treatment,’ Thapa said.

‘The landslide was caused by heavy rainfall the day before,’ he said.

Scores of people die every year from rain-triggered disasters - including floods and landslides -during the monsoon season in the Himalayan nation.

Heavy rains last week caused parts of a school to collapse in the capital Kathmandu, killing two pupils and injuring 24 others.