28 feared dead in U’khand landslides

TWO SOLDIERS AND FIVE JUNIOR COMMISSIONED OFFICERS WENT MISSING FOLLOWING A LANDSLIDE NEAR A MONSOON RIVULET IN PITHORAGARH

people died and 22 others – including seven Army personnel – were 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.

Meanwhile, rescue workers 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 Kotrupi village in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi town on Sunday, 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.

CM Trivendra Singh Rawat and finance minister Prakash Pant left for the affected areas but could not land due to incessant rains. Rawat later said the government was awaiting 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.