Assam police constable killed in landslide

An Assam Police constable was killed on Monday in a landslide, when he was sleeping inside his rented accommodation in Karbi Anglong district.

The constable was staying at a house in Diphu town, where the landslide took place at around 2 am, officials said.

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The police person has been identified as Najrul Islam, who was engaged with the traffic branch here, and hails from Nagaon’s Dhing area.

While he was sleeping, a huge mass of land came down from the hills and fell on the house, breaking its walls, they said, adding, Islam got trapped inside.

As the compound was at a difficult place for earth cutters to reach, local youths manually worked to remove the land and recover the constable’s body.

After almost four hours of effort, Islam’s body was finally recovered, the officials said.

With Islam’s death, eight people have so far lost their lives in landslides this year.

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Meanwhile, around 6,000 people are affected in flood in Dhemaji and Sivasagar districts, according to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).

At present, Brahmaputra at Nimatighat in Jorhat, Dhansiri at Numaligarh, Golaghat town in Golaghat and Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur are flowing above the danger marks, it said.