Rescue workers in western India are working to locate survivors of a landslide that has claimed at least 30 lives and buried up to 200 people.

Eight people have been rescued from the wreckage in Malin village, near the city of Pune in Maharashtra state.

Teams worked through the night but rain was hampering efforts to search for scores of people presumed trapped under the mud and debris.

The landslide hit the village early on Wednesday while people were sleeping.

Landslides are common in some parts of India during the monsoon, which runs from June to September.

A large part of a nearby hill collapsed on Malin, and its population of 150 to 200 tribal people were covered with tonnes of loose earth, mud and rocks.

"Everything on the mountain came down," said Suresh Jadhav, a district official, describing how a cascade of mud, rocks and uprooted trees swamped the area.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told the Press Trust of India news agency that more than 160 people were believed to be trapped in 44 houses buried under the rubble

Source: BBC