& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

100 buried alive in Lanka

AFP, Koslanda
Around 100 people were buried alive in a tea-growing region of Sri Lanka Wednesday as mudslides triggered by monsoon rains washed away their homes on a plantation, disaster officials said.
One witness spoke of hearing a noise like thunder as part of a mountainside collapsed onto the estate, burying some of the workers' homes in 30 feet (nine metres) of mud and debris.
"What I gathered is that about 100 people have been buried alive," Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told AFP after visiting the site in the eastern Koslanda region.
“There is no chance they could have survived," said the minister, as other officials said 16 people were confirmed dead.
The mudslide hit at a time when most people were at work and children were already in school, leaving the elderly and the very young at home.
“Initially we estimated the missing number at 300, but most of them were
at school or work," the minister said.
Hundreds of soldiers, who initially used their hands to dig for survivors, had switched to operating excavators by evening but hopes had faded of finding anyone else still alive.
The region's top military official, Major General Mano Perera, said 302 people, including 75 schoolchildren, whose homes were destroyed in the mudslide were being looked after at two schools in the same area.
The military officer said about 500 troops had been deployed in the area to carry out the search for victims.
Part of a mountain appeared to have collapsed onto the cluster of homes belonging to the tea plantation workers and their families below, leaving no trace of them, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
Shopkeeper Kandasamy Prabhakaran, 34, said he heard a noise like thunder and then saw houses being washed away by tonnes of mud.
"Right before my eyes I could see houses crumbling and getting washed downhill," Prabhakaransaid.
" It all happened very quickly."
President Mahinda Rajapakse ordered troops to deploy heavy equipment to speed up the rescue efforts, his office said.
Military sources said they expected more heavy machinery to reach the site, but damage to roads as well as heavy rain and mist were slowing them down.
The landslide began at about 7.45 am (0215 GMT) and lasted about 10 minutes, Perera said, adding "some houses have been buried in 30 feet of mud."
Authorities have begun checking on the number of people who were in their homes when tragedy struck.