Landslide strikes bus in Northern India, killing at least 15

At least 15 people were killed yesterday (7 October) after a massive landslide struck a passenger bus in India's northern state of Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

The bus was travelling through a hilly area near the Bilaspur district when debris hit it following several days of torrential rain. Police said there were around 20 to 25 passengers on board, and the victims included nine men, four women, and two children.

According to a statement from the office of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the state's highest elected official, three injured children were rescued and taken to a local hospital.

Rescue operations continued today (8 October) as efforts to locate several missing passengers, feared dead, remained underway, police said.

Intermittent heavy rains since Monday have left mountain slopes dangerously unstable across the region.

Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to the victims' families and pledged government support for relief efforts.

Extreme rainfall this year has triggered deadly floods and landslides across South Asia — including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Maldives, and Nepal.

In August, flash floods wiped out an entire village in India's northern state of Uttarakhand, while at least 44 people were killed in neighbouring Nepal over the weekend due to mudslides and floods caused by severe rainfall.

The weekend's downpour, arriving near the end of Nepal's monsoon season, also flooded parts of Kathmandu and forced the cancellation of all domestic flights on Saturday.

Experts warn that human-driven climate change is intensifying South Asia's monsoon patterns. Once predictable, the seasonal rains — typically spanning June to September and again from October to December — now occur in erratic, extreme bursts, bringing torrential downpours followed by prolonged dry spells.