Landslide On Shiite Shrine Traps Over 6 Iraqis Under

Landslide On Shiite Shrine Traps Over 6 Iraqis Under
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Reports have revealed that a bizzare accident has left at least six pilgrims trapped under rubble after a massive landslide had occurred at a Shiite Muslim shrine which was located in the central province of Karbala.

The rescue operating that had followed had seen three children being rescued after Saturday’s disaster and they were in “good condition” and being monitored in a hospital as has been reported by the emergency services.

Read Also: Austrian Villages Cut Off By Landslides Following Heavy Rains

But it was feared that “between six and eight people are still caught” under the rubble of the shrine, known as Qattarat al-Imam Ali, civil defence spokesman Nawas Sabah Shaker had revealed.

Some of the rescue teams who had been working through the night under floodlights had been able to provide supplies of oxygen as well as food and water to some of the people who were trapped through gaps in the rubble, said the state news agency INA.

Shaker told AFP that “sand dunes and rocks collapsed onto the shrine building”, blaming the saturation of the earth due to humidity and adding that “evacuation operations are still underway”.

The landslide on Saturday afternoon hit the shrine located in a natural depression about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

The rocks and sand started sliding because of the “saturation of the earthen embankment adjacent to the shrine” due to humidity, the civil defence told INA.

“This led to the collapse of about 30 percent of the area of the building, which measures about 100 square metres (1,000 square feet).”

In another report, according to the Red Cross, rescue personnel were attempting to reach three settlements in western Austria on Wednesday after landslides caused by heavy rains blocked access.

According to a spokesman for the Red Cross in the bordering state of Carinthia, Melanie Reiter, thunderstorms on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday caused streams in the hilly Villach-Land district to burst their banks, resulting in mud and debris landslides.

 

Africa Daily News, New York

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