Landslides: 168 tourists stranded in Lahaul-Spiti
Helicopters deployed to airlift tourists could not make sorties due to inclement weather
SHIMLA: At least 168 tourists were stranded in Udaipur subdivision of the high-altitude Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh on Friday as heavy rain continued to batter the hill state, disrupting road traffic due to landslides.
Helicopters deployed to airlift the 168 tourists in Udaipur could not make sorties due to the inclement weather. The chopper which was stationed in Annandale helipad in the morning has now been stationed at Kagnidhar helipad in Mandi.
The district administration has sought assistance from the Ladakh administration to evacuate the tourists.
“If the choppers do not fly from Mandi due to weather conditions, attempts will be made to send them to Sissu in choppers requisitioned from the Ladakh administration,” Lahaul-Spiti deputy commissioner Neeraj Kumar said.
Three days after three people were swept away in a rivulet while trying to help an army vehicle cross Tozing Nullah, the Lahaul-Spiti DC said, “Teams of Border Roads Organisation, National Disaster Response Force, police, home guards and public works department continued with the search operation though none of them have been able to trace the three yet.”
On Tuesday night, 12 people got washed away in a flash flood in Tozing Nullah. While two of them were rescued, seven bodies were recovered the day after but three people are still missing.
The district administration has asked for sniffer dogs from police and the NDRF to trace the missing persons. “Police is sending sniffers dogs from Hamirpur,” he said. Teams of emergency workers on Friday rescued about 150 people who were stranded on Udiapur side of the bridge on Shansha Nullah.
The rescued people were taken to Kriting from where they will be sent to Keylong in an HRTC bus.
Tribal development minister Ramlal Markanda supervised the rescue operation. Markanda said work was on full swing to restore the roads in district damaged due to flashfloods.
Chandigarh-Manali highway blocked
According to the state emergency operation cell, the Chandigarh-Manali highway was blocked due to a landslide at 7-Miles near Pandoh. The single lane has been opened for traffic and efforts are on to clear the debris.
The Paonta Sahib-ShillaiGumma-Hatkoti highway (NH 707) was also closed for traffic after a stretch of the road caved in after a landslide at Bar in Kamrau tehsil. Commuters had a narrow escape. In Lahaul-Spiti, two people were injured when their car met with an accident at Tindi in Udaipur. The injured were hospitalised where the condition one of them is said to be critical.
Three trekkers missing in Sissu
Three trekkers have gone missing in rain-battered Lahual-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.
Deputy commissioner Neeraj Kumar said as per information received from Sissu checkpost, tourists Nikunj Jaiswal, of Shakti Nagar Varsinghsar in Bikaner (Rajasthan), and two others, whose details are unavailable, were staying at a hotel in Sissu village. The trio had left for a trek to the high altitude Ghepan Ghat Lake, a glacier-fed lake located 4,140m above sea level on July 27. They were supposed to return on Thursday went missing. A search and rescue operation has been launched to trace them.
Inclement weather till August 4
The toll in rain-related incidents has risen to 209 since the onset of monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 13, the state disaster management authority said, adding that 11 people are still missing. The meteorological department in Shimla has issued a yellow alert of heavy rain, thunderstorm and lightning till August 2 at isolated places in 10 districts except for Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti. The inclement weather will continue till August 4.