Mumbai, July 29:

Deaths from India’s record monsoon climbed to near 900 today, police said, as rescuers unearthed more bodies from landslides villagers stampeded after hearing rumours of a tsunami. Thousands of bloated animal carcasses also littered the streets of Mumbai, fuelling fears of disease. “We are now confirming that the number of dead in Mumbai is 370,” said AN Roy, police chief of India’s western commercial hub. The figure included 18 killed in the overnight stampede, 74 bodies dug out by rescuers from a landslide that engulfed houses in Mumbai’s Sakinaka area and five other flood-linked deaths, Roy said, updating earlier tolls. At least 513 people have been killed elsewhere in Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, according to BM Kulkarni of the state police, taking the total number of confirmed deaths to 883.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Amitabh Gupta said more than 50 people were injured in the stampede, which followed false reports that a wall of water was about to swamp the area — variously from a burst dam or a tsunami. “It was just a rumour and people believed it and they started running out of their homes through the narrow alleys,” Gupta told AFP. “It was pitch dark as there was no electricity and a stampede followed. “Police present at the scene made repeated appeals, which were ignored by the residents. The sea is just a kilometre away and some heard there was a tsunami,” he said. Police chief Roy said 17 people were detained “for spreading tsunami rumours.” Hospital officials said 11 of the 18 dead in the stampede were women. According to estimates from the home ministry, the carcasses of 17,000 goats and 1,034 buffaloes and cows are lying unattended across pavements or in roads in the city’s western and eastern suburbs.

“We are considering to seek the assistance of the private sector in the rehabilitation work so that we can prevent the spread of any epidemic,” said state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh at an all-party meeting called to deal with the crisis.