Road clearing worker killed in Kinnaur landslide
An excavator operator engaged in clearing a blocked stretch on the Shimla-Kinnaur road on national highway 5 at Negulsari in Kinnaur died this morning after shooting stones fell on him. The deceased was identified as Madan, 27, a resident of Kullu, officials said.
As many as 81 tourists stranded in Himachal Pradesh’s Spiti Valley due to closure of roads after heavy snowfall have been shifted to safer places, police said on Monday.
The Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE), Chandigarh, has issued an avalanche warning for five districts of Chamba, Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu, Kinnaur and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh on Monday.
Over 650 roads, including five national highways, remained closed for vehicular movement on Monday evening following several avalanches and landslides caused by incessant rain and snow for the past three days, according to the state emergency operation centre.
The 81 tourists stranded in Spiti Valley in Lahaul and Spiti district were on Sunday night shifted to and accommodated in different hotels and homestays there, the police said in a statement. About 290 roads are blocked in this tribal district and several areas are without electricity for the past two days, the statement said. Heavy rain and snow in Lahaul and Spiti has also disrupted the cellular network, it added.
As many as 166 roads are closed in Shimla followed by 75 in Kinnaur, 58 in chamba, 32 in Mandi 17 in Sirmaur, 14 in Mandi, one each in Kangra and Solan.A total of 1,655 transformers are out of order while 145 water schemes have been disrupted in the state, according to the emergency centre.
High altitude and tribal areas received another spell of snow and Koksar recorded 40 cm of snow, Gondla 33 cm, Kothi 27 cm, Keylong 21 cm, Kufri 5 cm and Kalpa 4.5 cm in the past 24 hours, according to the bulletin issued by the meteorological department.