MANDI LANDSLIDE: 32 VICTIMS IDENTIFIED, RESCUE OPS ON

Nadda urges Gadkari to direct NHAI to take steps to prevent such accidents; village near highway declared unsafe

SHIMLA :Rescue workers, including personnel of 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 began at around 8am, they added.

Around 400 personnel, including 200 from the army, 40 from NDRF and the police, home guards 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 32 of the 46 bodies recovered from the site on Sunday have been identified. The rescuers also pulled out five people alive from the rubble.

SHIMLA/MANDI: Even as the search and rescue operation began with break of dawn, the teams did not recover even a single body on Monday.

“The search will continue until we scan the entire debris,” said deputy commissioner Sandeep Kadam, and added , “Of total 46 recovered, 32 have been identified.” On Monday, around 8am the search operation began with the help of army and NDRF) dig out more people feared trapped under the debris of major landslide in Mandi’s Kotrupi village.

Around 400 personnel, including 200 from Army, 40 from NDRF and rest police, home guard and fire brigade resumed the search operation in the morning .

Till Sunday, 46 bodies were recovered. However, the administration does not have a clear idea about those trapped in debris except a school teacher Prem Kumar. On Sunday, 46 bodies were recovered under the debris. The landslide hit the area around 1am, sweeping away two buses, some vehicles and about four houses. However, people residing in those houses of Kotrupi village are safe. Amid fears of landslide on the Mandi-Manali highway, the administration has diverted the traffic via Kataula Sarkaghat.

Meanwhile, Bhadwan, a village near the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway was declared unsafe and residents were asked to shift to safer places in view of threat of landslides.

LANDSLIDES BLOCK NATIONAL HIGHWAY

Following fresh landslides at Kotrupi village on Monday, traffic on the national highway-154 was halted. Landslides also blocked Mandi’s Dwada village, a part of NH-21.

The district administration has issued fresh warning and closed the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway.