A series of landslides, house collapses and flooding caused by heavy rains have killed at least 21 people and injured dozens of others in India's remote northeast, officials said on Sunday. A two-day respite from the rain allowed rescue workers to pull three more bodies from the debris Sunday, in and around Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh state, government official Bidol Tayeng said. The discoveries took the death toll to 17, Tayeng said. Air force personnel used helicopters to rescue the residents of nearly 300 mud and thatch huts that were washed away along the banks of the Dikrong river in Itanagar, he added. Unexpectedly heavy rains began lashed the area on Thursday and Friday. By Sunday, electricity and water supplies to the area remained cut off, Tayeng said. In neighboring Assam state Sunday, rescuers recovered four bodies after heavy rains flooded 120 villages in the Lakhimpur district where the weather has forced more than 40,000 people from their homes, area Superintendent of Police Ataul Karim said. The respite from the rain in the last two days means the flood waters have started to recede, allowing some villagers to return to their homes, Karim said. Assam is prone to flooding. Last year, millions of people were forced to temporarily abandon their homes after floods. Monsoon rains usually hit India from June to September. 31 killed in accidents Meanwhile, at least 31 people were killed in separate accidents in two Indian mountain states on Sunday, police said. Officials said 15 people, including seven women, were buried alive by landslides triggered by heavy overnight rain in Arunachal Pradesh state early on Sunday. “So far 15 bodies have been recovered and we are getting more reports of fresh landslides from far flung areas,” Bidol Tayeng, a senior government official, said from Itanagar, capital of the mountainous state bordering China. Several vehicles were also washed away by huge mudslides in and around Itanagar, officials said. Roads have been blocked by falling debris, hampering movement of rescue workers, they added. In the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, at least 16 people were killed when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a gorge on Sunday, R.M. Sharma, a senior police officer, told reporters. “We have shifted six injured people to a hospital and are looking for more survivors,” he said. Landslides and accidents during monsoon season are common in India's mountain states.
