India landslide: Death tolls rises to 26 as disaster relief workers battle excessive rainfall

Two days after the fatal, flood-triggered landslide, the death toll in Maharashtra, India rose to 26 on Saturday, with dozens still feared to be trapped under layers of mud.

Footage of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) workers digging through mud and removing debris to reach victims has been captured and shared since the incident took place on Thursday night.

Making it worse for disaster relief staff, however, has been the ongoing rainfall, making it far more difficult for them to locate those taken by the landslide.

"The height of the site is around 950 meters from the ground and the trek from here is about 2.8 kilometres. The trek is tough, and the incessant rains and winds have made it more arduous for us to reach the site of the landslide from here,” NDRF deputy commandant Raigad Pramod Kumar Singh said on Saturday.

India, with a more than a 1.3 billion population, relies heavily on rainfall to support its people — many of whom live rely on farming. Excessive rainfall in the past few years, however, has caused floods, landslides and water-borne diseases for the nation.

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