Monsoon death toll passes 500

THE death toll from catastrophic monsoon floods that ravaged western India passed 500 yesterday as rescuers searched for survivors amid the rubble of homes in Mumbai and food aid was rushed to villages cut off by unprecedented water levels.

By last night, a total of 513 people were reported to have died in Mumbai, the country's financial capital, and the surrounding state of Maharashtra since the rains began at the weekend, triggering landslides and submerging huge areas. That figure was likely to rise as rescue efforts continued, officials said.

At least 267 people were killed in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, after being crushed by falling walls, trapped in cars or electrocuted as the heaviest rains on record paralysed the city.

Officials were working to prevent an outbreak of waterborne diseases after some residents in the suburbs noted foul-smelling water running from their taps, following reports of a burst pipe that mixed sewage with the water.

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, flew over badly affected areas to inspect the damage, estimated at 132 million across the state.

The annual monsoon dumped more than 3ft of rain - nearly half the city's annual average - on to parts of Mumbai and the surrounding countryside on Tuesday, making it the greatest single day of rainfall recorded in India's history.

Mr Singh vowed to use the tragedy to rebuild the city's crumbling infrastructure. "Mumbai deserves more attention," he said, as he announced 68 million in additional aid.

Life in Mumbai is returning to normal as floodwaters slowly recede. More than 100,000 people were heading home with the help of the navy and the emergency services after spending two nights either stranded at work, school or in vehicles stuck in gridlocked and flooded streets.

Some trains are running again, but the Mumbai stock exchange and most businesses remained closed.

The first flights for two days took off from Mumbai's airport as airlines attempted to clear a huge backlog of passengers.

But amid the recovery effort, the search for survivors went on. In the northern Mumbai suburb of Saki Naka, emergency services and survivors desperately searched for those buried after a hill collapsed and demolished huts below, leaving more than 56 people missing and presumed dead.

"I was scared the hill would fall. I kept telling my cousin, 'Let's leave'," said Aslam Khan. "But he wouldn't listen. Now it's too late."

"People ran as soon as the hill started crumbling. But the old people had no chance," said Shabana Shaikh, who lost her parents in the landslide. She added that authorities had asked shanty dwellers each year to vacate their decrepit homes.

Another landslide at a slum near the wealthy suburb of Andheri killed 36 people and efforts were continuing to retrieve dozens more bodies believed to be buried in the mud. Up to half of Mumbai's burgeoning population live in illegal slums, amid a chronic housing shortage.

The heaviest casualties occurred in remote villages, where hundreds of people were buried beneath avalanches of mud and debris.