Landslides triggered by heavy rains on Saturday killed at least nine people, including an entire family, as they slept in mountainous districts of Nepal, officials said.
Landslides buried houses in three separate areas of the country's mountainous region, about 250 kilometers (156 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, according to Nepal's National Disaster Reduction and Management Authority.
Five members of the same family were killed when their house was swallowed by a landslide while they were sleeping in Malika village of Gulmi district. The victims included a couple, their daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, including an 8-month-old girl.
Two more people were killed in neighboring Baglung district and another two in Syangja districts, officials said.
The monsoon season that brings heavy rains in Nepal started earlier this month. It usually triggers landslides in the mountainous areas that cover most of this Himalayan nation, causing death and damage until September.
In 2015, a landslide caused by heavy rains buried six villages in mountainous northeastern Nepal, and at least 15 people sleeping in the houses are believed to have died, officials said. The landslide occurred overnight in Taplejung district, about 310 miles east of the capital, Kathmandu, said government administrator Surendra Bhattarai.
In 2002, landslides in northeastern Nepal killed 32 people.
