Police are searching for 21 people feared buried in a mudslide triggered by torrential monsoon rains in India’s remote mountainous north-eastern region.

A police officer said the mudslide occurred on Saturday in Goupi, a village in Manipur state close to India’s border with Burma. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters.

Police reinforcements reached the area and were trying to remove rubble to find the missing people. The village is 100 miles south-west of Imphal, the Manipur state capital.

Landslides are common in India during the monsoon season, which lasts from June until September.