At least 14 dead in landslide at railway site in India

At least 14 people have died and more than 30 people are missing after a huge landslide at a railway construction site in a remote area of eastern India.

Disaster responders, police and local villagers tried to rescue those buried under the debris in Noney, a town near Imphal, the capital of Manipur state.

Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh said seven of the confirmed dead were members of the Territorial Army.

He said five Indian Railway officials were among those who were feared missing.

A railway project is being built in the area, where a rebel insurgency is taking place, and army personnel are providing security for railway officials overseeing the project.

The state's decades-old insurgency seeks a separate homeland for ethnic and tribal groups.

Over the past three weeks continuous rainfall has wreaked havoc in India's north-east, which has eight states and 45 million people, and neighbouring Bangladesh.

An estimated 200 people have been killed in heavy heavy downpours and mudslides in states including Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim, while 42 people have died in Bangladesh since May 17.

Climate change is a factor in the erratic early rains that caused the floods, according to scientists.

Monsoon rains in South Asia typically start in June but torrential rain sounded north-eastern India and Bangladesh as early as March this year.

With rising global temperatures due to climate change, experts say that the monsoon season is becoming more variable, meaning that much of the rain that would typically fall during the season is falling in a shorter period.