Children among 9 killed in Nepal landslides

At least nine people including three children have been killed after heavy monsoon rains in west Nepal triggered landslides, The Canberra Times said quoting an official.

Five members of a family were sleeping when their house was washed away by a landslide in Malika village in Gulmi district, about 250km west of Kathmandu, according to Dizan Bhattarai, a spokesman for the National Disaster Rescue and Reduction Management Authority.

“Bodies of all five have been recovered,” Bhattarai said, adding the family included two children.

In neighbouring Syangja district, one woman and her three-year-old daughter died in a landslide that swept away their house.

Two people were also killed in another landslide in Baglung district, which borders Gulmi.

At least 35 people across Nepal have died in landslides, floods and lightning strikes since mid-June when annual monsoon rains started.

Rains normally continue until mid-September.

Landslides and flash floods are common in mostly mountainous Nepal during the monsoon season and kill hundreds of people every year.