5 dead as landslide buries houses in western Nepal

A landslide swept away houses in the remote Thawang village of Rolpa district in western Nepal, killing at least five people and leaving eight missing, a senior official told Anadolu on Thursday.

"Locals have recovered the bodies of five of the 15 people who went missing in the landslide, while two were injured. The location of the missing people is still unknown," Rishi Keshav Budha Magar, chairperson of Thawang Rural Municipality, which includes the landslide-affected area, said.

Around 8 pm Wednesday (1415GMT), a landslide swept away 11 houses and sheds for cows and buffalo on sloping mountain areas.

Thawang, a remote village in the district, was once widely known as the Maoist insurgents' hinterland during the insurgency, which lasted until 2007, when a peace agreement was signed.

Rescuers continue to struggle to reach the area.

"Since the landslide-affected area is not well connected to the road network, excavators mobilized for rescue couldn't reach there," Magar told Anadolu over the phone. "The Chief District Officer has just arrived at the incident site. I'm also walking on foot for rescue and recovery operations."

Rescuers from the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police have launched a search and rescue operation to locate missing people.

Poorly developed roads and inadequate disaster preparedness lead to fatalities during each monsoon season, which begins in June and lasts until September.

As of Wednesday, 43 people had been killed in monsoon-related disasters such as landslides, floods and heavy rains, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the state-run authority responsible for disaster response.