Landslides In Nepal Kill 26 People

Landslides in two mountainous districts in Nepal have killed at least 26 people and injured 17 more on Friday, officials said.

A landslide hit Goulichaur village, about 175 miles west of Katmandu, the capital, on Friday, killing 21 people, the chief government administrator in Baglung district, Surya Bhandari, told The Associated Press.

Bhandari said 17 people were injured and three more people were reported missing in the landslide, which swept some houses away while others were buried by debris.

An army rescue helicopter with soldiers and Red Cross rescuers was heading to this remote mountainous village to help, Bhandari said, adding that the weather was still not clear. Some soldiers were also sent on foot.

Separately, another landslide killed five people and buried parts of a village in Nepal's mountainous west on Friday, officials said.

The landslide covered three houses in Bratola village early in the morning while the victims were sleeping, said Bajura district's chief government official, Hum Prasad Adhikari. Rescuers have reached the village and recovered one body.

Adhikari said he was waiting to learn further details from the rescue team.

Bratola is about 310 miles northwest of Katmandu.

Scores of people are killed in the Himalayan nation each year during the rainy season, often by landslides in mountainous areas or flooding in the southern plains.

The Home Ministry in Katmandu said rescue helicopters have been sent to the affected areas loaded with relief materials, medicine and health workers.

Pratap Kumar Pathak, who coordinates natural disaster rescue and relief, said the helicopters would bring injured people to the nearest city of Pokhara, about 125 miles west of Katmandu.