LUCKNOW, India, Aug 11 (Reuters) - At least 36 people were killed and more than 50 reported missing in the Himalayan foothills of northern India after a series of landslides triggered by heavy rain, officials said on Friday.
The landslides came after widespread monsoon flooding in the north and northeast of India, as well as in Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, where in all some 300 people are feared dead and several million have been washed out of their homes.
In Bangladesh, where floods have affected a million people, half of them marooned in far-flung villages, nine people drowned in three districts on Thursday, taking the death toll to 29, officials and media reports said.
A local government spokesman in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh said the Pithoragarh district, which is close to the border with Tibet, was the worst affected by landslides.
He said 26 people were killed as houses collapsed under sliding mud and rocks, and five people died when they were swept away by the swollen Bhavra river in the neighbouring district of Nainital. Five people also died in landslips in Pithoragarh's Didihat area, he said.
Subash Kumar, a local divisional commissioner, said traffic on several main roads had been disrupted and some areas had been cut off. Further casualties could not be ruled out, he said.
"Many villages have become inaccessible on account of landslides that have also damaged telecommunications links, so we are not sure about the extent of the casualties."
RIVERS RECEDE IN INDIA
In the northeastern Indian state of Assam, swollen rivers were receding on Friday allowing authorities to step up relief efforts to remote villages cut off for more than two weeks.
Officials said doctors in every flood-hit district were travelling out to tend to survivors now facing hunger and the threat of water-borne diseases.
Officials said several voluntary groups were helping to provide food, shelter and medical aid.
"The overall flood situation in Assam has improved in the last two days, but erosion continues as in some places rivers have changed their course," Flood Control Minister Pramod Gogoi told Reuters.
He said Assam's main river, the Brahmaputra, was overflowing only in some areas bordering Bangladesh.
At Rangiya, 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Guwahati, Assam's main city, some villagers at a relief camp said they had no homes to return to.
"The falling water level does not help me. The river has changed its course and washed away my entire farm," Subhas Haloi, a farmer from Hatkuchi village, told Reuters.
Some people complained relief efforts were inadequate.
"The government has installed just one tubewell to give drinking water to 80 families. It is just not enough," said Kanal Kalita.
In the eastern Indian state of Bihar, officials said water in all rivers was receding but villagers in camps said they were in desperate need of government help to survive.
In some areas, victims said no relief or rescue teams had reached them.
In Bangladesh, flood forecasting and weather offices said major rivers were flowing above danger levels in many places and could swell further with flood water flowing down from India.