Three killed in landslide in Guwahati as rain lashes parts of Assam
Guwahati (PTI): At least three persons have been killed in a landslide in Assam's Guwahati as heavy rain lashed western and southern parts of the state, officials said on Saturday.
Floods have been reported from many parts of the state, including Lakhimpur.
The three persons were killed in the landslide in Bonda area on the outskirts of the city on Friday evening, Urban Affairs Minister Jayanta Malla Hazarika said.
"Incessant rain had caused the landslide and three persons, all women, were killed," he said.
Baruah, speaking to reporters after inspecting the severe waterlogging in the city late on Friday, said several agencies were working to provide relief and rescue to affected people.
Large parts of the Lakhimpur district have been inundated as water reached the downstream areas following heavy rains in bordering Arunachal Pradesh.
Multiple agencies have been deployed in the affected areas to rescue stranded people, with many taking refuge in tents.
As per the Regional Meteorological Department data on Friday, Chirang, Baksa, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Bajali, Tamulpur, Darrang and Udalguri are on 'red alert' for Saturday.
A 'red alert' was sounded for as many as 18 districts on Friday, with the state facing an 'abnormal situation' due to incessant downpours caused by massive cloud cover over several parts of the northeast, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said on Friday.
Heavy rainfall has also been recorded in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, aggravating the situation in Assam, especially Guwahati, which has been hit by massive waterlogging, he said.
Special casual leave has been announced for government employees of Kamrup and Kamrup Metropolitan districts on Saturday, who have to commute some distance to reach their offices.
Educational institutions have also been closed in the two districts on Saturday.
Flight services at Guwahati airport were affected on Friday due to heavy rains and gusty winds, the officials had said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
