Monsoon Flooding, Diseases Kill 70

Waterborne diseases and flooding caused by seasonal monsoon rains have killed more than 70 people and sickened hundreds in India over the past week, authorities and news reports said. A bus with more than 60 passengers was swept away by the swollen Banas River in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Only seven people managed to swim to safety, the news agency Press Trust of India quoted police as saying. Also in the past week, 20 people have died and hundreds of others have become ill in the flood-ravaged northeastern state of Assam.