KATHMANDU, (AA): Landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains buried houses in Nepal’s mountainous midwestern region, killing 17 people, police said on Thursday.

The landslides struck the villages of Chapakot and Lumle, near popular tourist town Pokhara after midnight Thursday, crushing families relying on subsistence farming, Mahesh Godar, a local police officer said.

“So far, the deal toll has reached 17 including 10 women, six men and a six-year-old boy,” Godar told Anadolu Agency by phone from Pokhara.

He said more than 20 people are believed to be missing and 16 wounded survivors have been taken to hospitals in Pokhara.

The weather on Thursday morning was clear but the landslides had damaged the connecting road to the hamlet of Lumle, forcing the rescuers to walk for several hours, Godar said.

More than 100 security force personnel have been deployed for rescue and search operation, according to the police officer.

Hundreds of people die in the natural disaster prone Nepal every summer, when monsoon rains trigger landslides and floods.

[Photo: Previous natural disaster in Nepal. Buddhist temple surrounded by debris in Kathmandu, Nepal on July 25 2015. Photographer: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Anadolu Agency]