Rescuers stroll in the direction of the location of a landslide in Raigad district, western Maharashtra state, India, Thursday, July 20, 2023. While some persons are reported lifeless many others feared trapped beneath piles of particles.

Rafiq Maqbool/AP

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Rafiq Maqbool/AP

Rescuers stroll in the direction of the location of a landslide in Raigad district, western Maharashtra state, India, Thursday, July 20, 2023. While some persons are reported lifeless many others feared trapped beneath piles of particles.

Rafiq Maqbool/AP

NEW DELHI — Hundreds of rescuers have recovered 27 lifeless as they pushed on with a fourth day of looking for scores of individuals nonetheless lacking after heavy monsoon rains triggered a large landslide in a village in western India, an official mentioned Sunday.

Seventy-eight persons are nonetheless unaccounted for for the reason that landslide hit Irshalwadi village on Wednesday evening in Raigadh district, almost 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Mumbai, the Maharashtra state capital.

At least 17 of 48 homes within the village had been totally or partially buried beneath the particles, officers mentioned.

Rescuers had been principally utilizing rods and shovels. Heavy tools like earth movers and excavators couldn’t attain the village with no paved roads and a large sludge round it, mentioned Deepak Avadh, an official of the National Disaster Response Force. A canine squad was additionally deployed to detect any survivors.

From the bottom of the hill, it takes about 90 minutes to succeed in Irshalwadi by foot. Rainfall and a risk of extra landslides triggered the rescue operation to be suspended in the course of the evening, rescue company mentioned.

The lifeless included 4 kids, the Press Trust of India information company mentioned, including that 75 folks have been rescued. Four folks have been hospitalized.

India’s climate division positioned Maharashtra beneath alert because the state was lashed by incessant rains the previous week. Local prepare service was disrupted at a number of locations with water flowing inside stations and over tracks, media reported.

Record monsoon rains have killed greater than 100 folks in northern India over the past three weeks, officers mentioned, because the downpours triggered roads to collapse and houses to break down.

India frequently experiences extreme floods in the course of the monsoon season, which runs between June and September and brings most of South Asia’s annual rainfall. The rains are essential for rain-fed crops planted in the course of the season however usually trigger intensive injury.

Scientists say monsoons have gotten extra erratic due to local weather change, resulting in frequent landslides and flash floods in India’s Himalayan north.