At least 30 people died in three Mumbai suburbs after several houses collapsed when heavy rain triggered landslides, officials said on Sunday.
Rescuers used their hands to dig up the ground in an attempt to find survivors, local television showed, as authorities said more people could be trapped inside the debris.
Emergency workers carried the injured through narrow lanes on makeshift stretchers.
Several areas of Mumbai have been hit by floods because of heavy rain over the past 24 hours, crippling India's financial capital.
The mega-city and the coast of India's industrial Maharashtra state are expected to receive heavy-to-very-heavy rainfall in the next four days, the weather department said in a statement carried by Reuters.
"We'll take the decision to shift the people who are living in a dangerous situation to permanent settlements immediately," said Nawab Malik, a state cabinet minister, according to a tweet by news agency ANI.
Trapped under the rubble
Within the past 24 hours, authorities have reported 11 incidents of houses or walls collapsing in the Mumbai area, officials said.
In one neighbourhood, about half a dozen shacks located at the base of a hill collapsed on top of each other, they said.
In another incident, a falling tree demolished a wall in the eastern suburb of Chembur during Sunday's early hours, burying nearby residents, the National Disaster Response Force said.
Seventeen bodies have been recovered from the rubble, it said, amid continued efforts to rescue survivors.
"In the adjacent house, I saw a small girl who was trapped in the debris. She was shouting 'save me, save me'," Firoz Khan, who was caught up in the downpour in Chembur, told AFP.
"Her body was trapped in the mud. Somehow, I managed to pull her out. She had injuries in her legs. I narrowly survived this collapse."
Another resident, Manda Gautam Pradhan, said she had seen "rocks and mud... gushing down the hill along with the rainwater".
Torrential rain, especially during India's July-September monsoon, often triggers the collapse of buildings, especially older or illegally built structures.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
