NEW DELHI, 2 DEC - At least seventeen people have lost their lives in the village of Mettupalayam, near Coimbatore, in the state of Tamil Nadu, due to the collapse of a wall that swept three neighboring houses last night. Rescuers are still at work extracting and bodies from the rubble, but hopes of recovering someone still alive are minimal, a police commissioner told reporters from the Ians agency. Among the victims, four children and a whole family of six. The drama is attributed to the heavy rains that have hit the area in the last forty-eight hours and that should continue, according to the Meteorology Department, for one more day.