28 feared dead in U’khand landslides 23 victims identified in Himachal tragedy
NATURE’S FURY Six bodies recovered, army personnel among those missing
Six people have died while 22 others – including seven Army personnel – were also feared killed as two landslides hit Uttarakhand’s border district of Pithoragarh on Monday morning.
The landslides were caused by a cloudburst the previous night, officials said.
In Pithoragarh, district disaster mitigation official NS Rana said two soldiers and five junior commissioned officers went missing after a landslide occurred near Mangti Nallah, a monsoon rivulet, in the first incident. Two bridges were also damaged in the area.
Seven porters are also feared swept away in the gushing waters of the rivulet.
“Six bodies have been recovered so far,” Pithoragarh district magistrate C Ravi Shankar told.
Fourteen people went missing after another landslide hit Malpa on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra route.
The Kali river is reportedly flowing at a dangerously high level.
Members of the National Disaster Response Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Army and local departments have been pressed into service for rescue operations.
Officials said more people could still be trapped under the debris of damaged structures.
Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and finance minister Prakash Pant left for the affected areas but could not land due to incessant rains.
The chief minister later said the state government was waiting for the exact figure of the casualties.
Earlier, four people were killed after their homes collapsed under landslides at Madarma village in Pithoragarh district on Saturday.
:Rescue workers, including personnel of Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and state police, resumed their search on Monday for more bodies in the debris after a landslide triggered by a cloudburst swept away several vehicles on a busy highway stretch in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, officials said.
The search operation to dig out more people feared trapped under the debris in Mandi’s Kotrupi village, which was called off on Sunday around 10pm due to poor light, began at around 8am, they added.
Around 400 personnel, including 200 from the army, 40 from NDRF and the police, home guard and fire brigade, are involved in the search operation. Besides these, local volunteers trained by the district administration to mitigate disaster are also assisting in the operation.
Mandi deputy commissioner Sandeep Kadam said at least 23 of the 46 bodies recovered from the site on Sunday have been identified. The rescuers also pulled out five people alive from the rubble.
“The search will continue until we scan the entire debris,” Kadam added.
However, the teams were not able to recover anybody on Monday. At least 10 more people could be trapped in the debris.
The landslide that took place at around 1.15am on Sunday at Kotrupi village washed away two buses of HRTC and two cars as a 200-metre stretch of the MandiPathankot highway gave way. Five houses were also damaged.