Guwahati, June 22: A sexagenarian woman died in a landslide at Piyali Phukan Nagar here today.

Rukia Begum, 64, lived with her two sons and husband in a two-room house that collapsed after huge chunks of earth fell on it around 11.30am.

"She was alone at home when the incident took place. Her husband and the elder son had gone out to work. The younger son was nearby. He was the one who informed us about the incident," a policeman told The Telegraph.

On receiving information, the police rushed to the spot. A team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) arrived after nearly 90 minutes.

"Around 3.45pm, SDRF personnel retrieved her body," the policeman said.

Local residents alleged that she died because of the SDRF team's delay in arriving at the site. "The SDRF team reached around one-and-a-half hours late. That is why it took around four hours to retrieve the body. Her younger son had tried to dig her out but in vain. Had help arrived earlier, she would have survived," said one of the residents.

An official of SDRF, however, said, "It took time to reach the spot as the place was remote and the roads were very bad. We had to reach there with our equipment and so it took time."

According to the district administration, the woman had illegally encroached upon the land, which had also been declared a landslide-vulnerable zone.

"The land was encroached. Moreover, it was located in one of the landslide-vulnerable zones. From time to time we launch eviction drives but people return. They do not realise that these are being done for their safety," said circle officer Lakhinandan Saharia.

Landslides have been a perennial problem in the city. Every year, during monsoon, landslides occur in the hills in the city. Last Sunday, there were two landslides in Kharghuli hills and Pandu. After the onset of monsoon this month, this is the fifth landslide in the city.