DHAKA: Twenty-seven people have died in separate incidents of landslide, cloudburst and flood in ecologically fragile India’s Uttarakhand in the past 24 hours as heavy monsoon rain continues to lash the state, according to the disaster management control room.

Fourteen deaths due to cloudbursts at four places were reported in Pauri district on Friday. Seven people were killed after heavy rain triggered a landslide in Dehradun’s Rajpur area in the wee hours of Saturday, reports Hindustan Times.

India prime minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives in the state, where a mid-June deluge had wreaked havoc and killed more than five thousand people including pilgrims last year.

According to the Pauri district administration, several people are stranded in Kotdwar block due to floods.

A rescue operation is underway, even as the weather department forecast heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours.

BDST: 1449 HRS, AUG 16, 2014