At least six people are confirmed dead after a massive landslide hit Nepal's remote village early Saturday morning, locals said.
Caused by continual rain in the last two days, the landslide that hit Mankha VDC in Sindupalchowk district in Nepal's eastern hilly region has also blocked Sunkoshi River.
Terrified residents living around 20 kilometers of the incident site, including Barabishe, Lamosanghu, Khadichaur, Sukute and others, have been running to safer places.
"The death toll might rise as many others have gone missing under the mud," Ram Nagarkoti, a villager told Xinhua over phone.
He said the landslide, which occurred at around 3 a.m., has blocked the Sunkoshi River and created a large pond in the area, posting new threat for the villagers and locals.
Dozens injured have been airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.
Local administration offices in the region said as many as two dozen houses have been swept away while the Araniko Highway, one of the shortest and busiest routes that connects Nepal with China' s Tibet has also been buried.
"The administration has been planning different measures to open the river blockade and release the water from blocked river," Chief District Officer Gopal Prasad Parajuli said, "We are also discussing on dropping a bomb from a NA chopper and start the water flow."
An emergency meeting of the Central Disaster Rescue Committee at the Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) suggested the state to declare crisis zone to the landslide hit area and its periphery.
"The downstream areas inside the Nepali territory which might be affected by blockage of the Sunkoshi River have been recommended to be declared crisis zone," Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, spokesperson at MoHA told Xinhua.
He said the river blocked due to the landslide has already caused a huge storage of water with around 3 km long, 300 meter width and 90 meter depth.
He said though the government's first priority is to release water from the blocked river, it has been difficult due to the tremendous amount of mud and difficult location.
Other MoHA officials said the meeting has also directed the District Disaster Management Committee of Sindhupalchowk to begin evacuating the people from the area downstream of the blocked river.
Locals from the incident told Xinhua that the stoppage of the river has caused risk of flooding around 20 km nearby area of the incident site. Enditem