GUWAHATI, Oct 27: Sixteen people have died in a cholera outbreak in a tea-growing area of northeastern Indian, prompting the local state government to sound a health alert, officials said on Wednesday.

Some 150 others tested positive since the disease was reported last week in six tea gardens in Sonitpur district, about 230kms north of Guwahati, the main city in the state of Assam.

“Most of the casualties were reported from tea garden areas and it appears the victims were down with cholera due to poor hygiene,” senior local health official Anup Bhattacharyya said.

The deaths occurred since Tuesday, he added, with local doctors blaming delays in bringing the ill to hospitals for the toll.

The disease, which is primarily transmitted through contaminated food and water, causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting.—AFP