Debris from a landslide that hit a bus in India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh killed at least 15 people on Tuesday, local authorities said.
The bus was travelling on a hilly region near Bilaspur district when a landslide struck following days of torrential rain. There were 20 to 25 passengers on the bus. Nine men, four women and two children were among those killed, police said.
Three injured children were rescued and taken to hospital, according to a statement from the office of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the state’s Chief Minister.
Rescue operations continued on Wednesday in an attempt to find missing passengers, who are feared dead, police said.
Intermittent rain has lashed the region since Monday, making the landslide-prone mountain slopes more unstable.
President Draopadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered their condolences following the deadly landslide.
Extreme rains this year have caused flooding and landslides across the South Asian region, which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives and Nepal.
Flash floods swept away an entire village in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand in August, while at least 44 people were killed in neighbouring Nepal at the weekend in mudslides and flooding triggered by severe rainfall.
The weekend’s rain arrived at the end of Nepal’s monsoon season, which usually begins in June and ends by the middle of September. It also left parts of the capital, Kathmandu, flooded and caused the cancellation of all domestic flights on Saturday.
Experts said human-caused climate change is intensifying South Asia’s monsoons, which traditionally run from June to September and again from October to December. The rain, once predictable, now arrive in erratic bursts that drop huge amounts of water in short periods, followed by dry spells.
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
On racial profiling at airports
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
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