NEW DELHI - Landslides in India triggered by pounding monsoon rains have killed at least 24 people with hundreds more feared trapped under mud and debris, officials said Tuesday.
The southern coastal state of Kerala has been battered by torrential downpours, and the collapse of a key bridge at the disaster site in Wayanad district has hampered rescue efforts, according to local media reports.
"So far, we have received 24 bodies in different hospitals," Kerala state health minister Reena George told the Press Trust of India news agency.
"Many are injured, they are under treatment" in district hospitals, she added.
Images published by the National Disaster Response Force show rescue crews carrying bodies on stretchers out of the disaster site through muddy earth and scattered debris thrown up by the force of the landslide's impact.
India's army said it had deployed more than 200 soldiers to the area to assist state security forces and fire crews in search and rescue efforts.
"Hundreds of people are suspected to have been trapped," it said in a statement.
More rainfall and strong winds were forecast in Kerala on Tuesday, the state's disaster management agency said.
Several people injured in the landslides were brought to a hospital in the district for treatment.