Two India floods survivors killed in Nepal landslide

KATHMANDU (AFP) - Two Nepalese migrant workers who survived recent floods in north India were killed when a landslide triggered by heavy rains buried their hotel in a remote village in Nepal, local police said Friday.

The two men, who were in their forties stopped at a hotel in northwestern Nepal en route to their home in Kalikot district when it was smashed by a landslide Thursday night, Sher Bahadur Thapa, a local police official told AFP.

"Others escaped while the two (men) who shared a room on the second floor were trapped inside and buried under the debris," Mr Thapa said.

He said that another man who was also trapped with them was able to escape with minor injuries.

The men, who worked as palanquin bearers for Hindu pilgrims visiting shrines in northern India, were returning home after surviving deadly floods caused by early, heavy rains earlier this month, Thapa said.

They were rescued by Indian soldiers after being stranded in Kedarnath, among the worst-hit areas.

After Thursday's deaths, the toll from landslides and floods has reached 41 in Nepal, where the government has declared 14 out of the country's 75 districts disaster-hit.

Hundreds of people die every year from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season in the Himalayan nation.

Across the border in India, landslides and flash floods left more than a thousand dead and tens of thousands more people stranded.

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