Monsoon death toll reaches 696

Rescuers scouring flood-ravaged neighbourhoods and outlying villages found dozens of new bodies, pushing the death toll to 696 from record monsoon rains this week in western India, officials said today.

Some 370 of the dead were from Mumbai and the surrounding area in Maharashtra state, said N Nayar, an official at the government’s emergency control room in the city – India’s financial hub.