150 Feared Trapped in India Landslide

A landslide hit a village in western India following torrential rains today, sweeping away scores of houses and raising fears that more than 150 people could be trapped, officials say. Federal rescue workers were being hampered by continuing rains and poor roads leading to the village of Ambe in Pune district in Maharashtra state, where the landslide buried about 40 houses.

Police and medical teams arrived in the area but had difficulty communicating because of poor telephone and cell phone connectivity. Landslides are common in the area during the monsoon season, which runs from June through September. The Pune district is about 94 miles southeast of Mumbai, India's commercial capital. The nearest medical center is about 9 miles from the village. (More India stories.)