Landslides kill 10 in Nepal monsoon

KATHMANDU - Multiple landslides triggered by monsoon rains have left at least 10 people dead in Nepal and caused a major bridge along a national highway to cave in, officials said Friday.

Heavy rains have swept away homes and damaged roads across the country's hilly western region and along the eastern plains bordering India, said home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal.

"At least 10 people, including two children, have been killed due to landslides, six others are missing," Dhakal told AFP.

"The constant rain has also forced us to close a bridge along the East-West highway after it cracked and caved in." A 27-year-old woman and her eight-year-old son were killed when a landslide buried their home in mountainous Jajarkot district before dawn on Friday, a local official said.

"Her husband and two older daughters suffered injuries, while two other people have been reported missing," said district official, Hiralal Chaudhary.

The deaths come two weeks after the worst landslide in more than a decade slammed into hamlets in northeastern Nepal, leaving 156 people dead.

Scores of people die every year from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season in the Himalayan nation.