25 dead as Mizoram quarry collapses

Aizawl: At least 25 people, including two minors, were killed and several others were missing as a stone quarry collapsed in Mizoram's Aizawl district on Tuesday morning amid incessant rain in the aftermath of cyclone Remal, officials said. Several other people also went missing in landslides elsewhere in the state capital which was cut off from the rest of the country.

The incident happened around 6 am in an area between Melthum and Hlimen on the southern outskirts of Aizawl town. "We have recovered 17 bodies so far and the rescue operations are going on. We suspect that 6-7 more people are still trapped under the rubble," Mizoram Director General of Police Anil Shukla told PTI. He said that heavy rain was affecting rescue operations at the disaster site.

The rain triggered landslides at several other places in the state and at least two persons have been "swept away", Shukla said. Aizawl's Deputy Commissioner Nazuk Kumar said that the search operations will continue till the entire site is cleared. A four-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl are among the victims of the stone quarry collapse, another police officer said. (PTI)