KATHMANDU (Reuters): A landslide killed a woman and at least seven children in Nepal over the weekend as officials issued warnings on Monday of the risk of more landslides and flash floods due to torrential rain.
Working in the downpour, rescuers in Bheri town, about 310 kilometers (193 miles) west of capital Kathmandu, were still searching for a missing boy, having pulled out one survivor.
“Army and police personnel are digging with shovels through mud for a 12-year-old boy who is missing,” Krishna Prasad Khatiwada, a senior government official in Bheri, told Reuters by phone.
The dead children were aged between three and eleven years.
Flash floods and landslides in the June-September monsoon season are common in mostly mountainous Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains including Mount Everest.
Samir Shrestha, an official at the weather forecasting office in Kathmandu, said more landslides and flash floods were likely as heavy rains were forecast for hilly areas in central and western Nepal through Tuesday.
Residents in Terai, the southern low lying region bordering India, had been warned to beware of floods as water levels were rising in many rivers, he said.
