Death toll in north-east India floods rises to 162

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GUWAHATI - Rescuers in India's flood-ravaged north-east recovered another five bodies yesterday, taking the death toll in flash floods and landslides in the region to 162 in the past six days, an official said.

Soldiers spearheading relief and rescue operations found the bodies in Assam's worst-hit Goalpara district, 150km from the main city of Guwahati, said Mr Anil Mazumdar, additional district magistrate of Goalpara.

'There are several low-lying villages that are still submerged and we fear the death toll will further mount as reports of more dead bodies lying scattered in the district have come in,' he told AFP by telephone.

The overall situation in Assam had improved yesterday with the water in most parts receding, he said.

The flooding was triggered after waters poured into the paddy-growing district from hills in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya after four days of heavy rains in the thickly-forested north-east since Thursday.

Weather officials said the deluge, the worst in a decade to soak the region outside of a monsoon period, was caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal.

Assam accounted for 155 of the 162 deaths reported from the state while neighbouring Meghalaya accounted for the others.

Indian soldiers were also running free kitchens and providing emergency first aid and health-care services for the hundreds of thousands of displaced villagers.

Of the victims, 137 drowned in separate incidents in Goalpara district while the others died in landslides in Guwahati.

About 55,000 people are staying in 53 makeshift relief camps in Goalpara, while another 30,000 displaced by the flash floods are living in government camps in other parts of Assam.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, at least 40 people were killed and several hundred injured in storms last week that damaged many homes. -- AFP, Reuters