102 killed by floods in north of India

More than 100 people have died in flooding this week in the northern state of Uttarakhand.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, put the death toll at 102, speaking after an aerial survey of the area. “It is feared the loss of life could be much higher,” he said. A joint army and air force operation evacuated nearly 12,000 Hindu pilgrims stranded in a mountainous area by torrential monsoon rains and landslides, but nearly 63,000 people remained cut off, a senior official said.