Four killed in Guwahati landslip, rockfall

Four people, including three members of a family, were killed in a landslip and a rockfall in Guwahati early Tuesday (September 1, 2026) following incessant rain.

Kamrup Metropolitan District Disaster Management Authority officials said a couple and their minor daughter died in a landslide in the city’s Mathgharia area, while a 65-year-old woman was killed when a rock fell on her house in the Satgaon area.

Those killed in Mathgharia were identified as Nagen Rajbongshi (44), his wife Sanu Rajbongshi (38), and their 12-year-old daughter, Meena Rajbongshi. Their 19-year-old son, Biplab Rajbongshi, was rescued. The Mathgharia incident happened at around 7:40 a.m.

Officials said the fourth person, P. Sumitra, was killed after a rock fell on her house in Kalitakuchi village on the outskirts of Guwahati around 6.30 a.m. Three others—P. Lakshmi, P. Ramanna, and Damayanti Das—were injured in the incident.

“Rescue personnel and local authorities have been clearing the debris and assisting those affected,” Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) commissioner Chinmoy Prakash Phookan told The Hindu after inspecting the sites.

Hills rule the landscape of Guwahati, which has a GMC-administered area of 216.79 sq. km. Most of these hills are prone to landslides and landslips due to earth-cutting, stone extraction, and construction activities.

According to data presented in the State Assembly recently, landslides killed 93 people across Assam between 2016 and 2025. The data showed that Kamrup Metropolitan district, which encompasses Guwahati, regularly records the most urban landslide fatalities in the State.

Kamrup Metropolitan district accounted for 22 of the 79 landslide deaths recorded in Assam from 2016 to mid-2022.