30 dead, 200 trapped in landslide

PUNE, July 31 (BBC): Rescue workers in western India are working to locate survivors of a landslide that has claimed at least 30 lives and buried up to 200 people. Eight people have been rescued from the wreckage in Malin village, near the city of Pune in Maharashtra state.
But more than 36 hours after Wednesday morning's landslide, chances of finding more people alive appear small.
Officials say rain is hampering efforts to search for scores of people presumed trapped under the mud and debris.
The landslide hit the village early on Wednesday while people were sleeping.
On Thursday, rescuers continued their search through heavy rains, but hopes of finding any more survivors were fading.
"Miracles do happen, we will keep looking, but under current conditions it is very, very bleak," AFP news agency quoted Alok Avasthy, regional commandant of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) at the scene, as saying.
Wailing relatives, mourning the loss of entire families, are at the scene, hoping and praying for some positive news. Survivors could be seen rummaging through the debris, trying to salvage their possessions.
Among the eight people saved were 25-year-old Pramila Lembe and her three-month-old baby, who were rescued eight hours after the landslide.
"I was breast-feeding the baby when I heard a loud thunder-like clap. I tried to run but the wall collapsed," Ms Lembe told AFP while recovering in hospital.
"I held the boy somehow. I tried to shout but heard no-one," she added. A large part of a nearby hill collapsed on Malin, and its population of 150 to 200 tribal people were covered with tonnes of loose earth, mud and rocks.
"Everything on the mountain came down," said Suresh Jadhav, a district official, describing how a cascade of mud, rocks and uprooted trees swamped the area.
The disaster only came to light when a bus passed by and the driver saw that the village had disappeared under masses of mud and earth, officials said.
Rescue operations were disrupted several times on Thursday after "very heavy rainfall" in the area.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told the Press Trust of India news agency that more than 160 people were believed to be trapped in 44 houses buried under the rubble.
Another AP Report Adds: Rescuers using earth-moving equipment and their bare hands dug through heavy mud and debris Thursday after a landslide engulfed an entire village in western India, killing at least 30 people and leaving about 100 missing and feared dead.
More than 24 hours after the Wednesday morning landslide, authorities said the chances of survival were slim for anyone still trapped under the mud in Malin, a village of some 700 people in Pune district of Maharashtra state.
Suresh Jadhav, a district official, said around 40 homes were wiped out.
Two days of torrential rains triggered the landslide, which continued to pound the area as rescuers brought bodies covered in soaked white sheets to waiting ambulances while relatives stood by, weeping. Bad communications, dangerous roads and debris delayed national rescue personnel from the stricken area for several hours Wednesday.
The disaster only came to light when a bus driver passed by and saw that the village had disappeared under masses of mud and earth.
"The driver returned to a nearby city and alerted authorities," Jadhav said. "Everything on the mountain came down."
Thirty bodies had been recovered and eight people pulled out alive, said rescue official Sachin Tamboli.
Suresh Dhonde, who was working in another town when the landslide ripped through his village, said only two people managed to get out of his home alive.
"The other six are buried under the mud," he said.
Crowds of people from nearby areas were helping rescuers, using their bare hands to move fallen trees and rocks. About 250 disaster response workers and at least 100 ambulances were involved in the rescue effort, officials said.
Overnight, emergency workers used flood lights mounted on jeeps to illuminate the disaster area, where the tangled roofs of homes poked up through thick mud.