Massive landslide in India's Himachal Pradesh, several feared trapped

A landslide in north Indian mountains destroyed several buildings on Thursday, the latest in a string of disasters in the Himalayas that have killed scores of people.

No one was hurt in Thursday's landslide in the Kullu region of Himachal Pradesh state as residents had been moved out of the area because it was deemed unsafe.

"The administration had identified the risk and successfully evacuated the building two days prior," the state's chief minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to what he called "a massive commercial building".

He posted a video clip of the building collapsing in the landslide. Television channels broadcast pictures of buildings on a hillside crashing down, along with trees and debris.

"A total of eight buildings were fully damaged and two others partially damaged," said state disaster management official Praveen Bhardwaj.

Landslides in Himachal Pradesh killed more than 50 people this month, with houses flattened and buses and cars hanging on the edge of precipices after roads gave way.

Unusually heavy rain and melting glaciers have brought deadly flash floods to the mountains of India and neighbouring Pakistan and Nepal in recent years, with government officials increasingly blaming climate change.

At least 52 people have been killed in landslides in Nepal this year while 29 are missing.

More Visuals from Anni in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh show several buildings collapsing. #HimachalDisaster #HimachalPradesh #Kullu pic.twitter.com/RlZvMuKTdZ

— Gagandeep Singh (@Gagan4344) August 24, 2023