RESCUERS in Nepal have recovered dozens of bodies buried in landslides following a monsoon which has killed at least 148 people, officials said today. 

Weather conditions improved following three days of rainfall and flooding, allowing rescue and clean-up efforts to get under way around the capital Kathmandu, but dozens were still reported to be missing. 

The city remained cut-off from the outside as landslides blocked three main roads.

People were left stranded on rooftops as their homes flooded.

The bodies of 14 people were recovered at night from two buses that had been headed to Kathmandu when a landslide buried them and a further 23 bodies were dug out from vehicles today at the same spot, about 10 miles from Kathmandu, as workers searched for others who may have been buried.

A police statement said another 86 people were injured in the flooding and landslides, while 62 are missing.

Among the dead were a 14-year-old girl and a pregnant woman when a house collapsed in the city of Bhaktapur.

The death toll was expected to rise as reports continue to come in from villages across the mountainous country.

At least 34 people were killed in Kathmandu, which was the hardest hit by flooding.

Police and soldiers were assisting with rescue efforts, while heavy equipment was used to clear the landslides from the roads.

One person described the dramatic scenes as people were swept away in the Nakkhu River in the south of Kathmandu.

Jitendra Bhandari told the BBC: “For hours, they kept on pleading for help. We could do nothing.”

Government spokesman Prithvi Subba Gurung said the flooding had also broken water pipes and affected phone and power lines.

The government announced it was closing schools and colleges across Nepal for the next three days.

The monsoon season brings floods and landslides every year to the Himalayan nation, and this year, they began in June.

The season usually ends by mid-September but scientists have said that rainfall events are becoming more intense due to climate change.