Twenty-one feared dead as floods hit Indian desert state

INDIA: At least 21 people were swept away and feared dead as monsoon rains triggered rare floods in the Indian desert state of Rajasthan, officials said Sunday.

A cross-border train that shuttles between India and Pakistan was also briefly stranded, a railways spokesman said in Jaipur, capital of the northern state.

Two soldiers who were part of a rescue effort were swept away in Jodhpur district but one was rescued, state Relief Minister Kirorimal Meena said and put the weather-related death toll at 21 since the floods hit Rajasthan Friday.

Four of those killed were children who drowned in the rising waters after clinging to a tree for hours on Saturday.

"In the last 33 years we have not seen such a situation in Rajasthan," Meena said as torrential rains lashed cut-off villages and towns more used to droughts.

Meena said districts such as Jodhpur, Jalore and Kota, which nestles in the desolate Thar desert, were severely hit by the floods and added the army was out in three other districts were tens of thousands of people were stranded.

Railways spokesman A.K. Khanna said the train was on its return trip from Khokhrapar in Pakistan's Sindh province when it was stranded in the floods but reached its destination at Munabao station in Rajasthan's Barmer district several hours behind schedule.

Earlier this month, more than 10 million people were affected by floods in four states while western Gujarat faced the brunt with its diamond-polishing hub of Surat remaining under water for five days.

Jodhpur, Monday, AFP