Chandigarh/ Shimla: At least ten people were killed and between 30 and 40, including women and children, were feared buried under debris after a landslide trapped a bus and other vehicles in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district around noon yesterday. Deputy Commissioner, Kinnaur, Abid Hussain Sadiq, said that ten bodies had been recovered from under the rubble and rescue operation was under way to locate several others trapped.
State Disaster Management Director Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said the landslide and shooting stones occurred at Chaura village under Nugul Sari on the Reckong Peo-Shimla Highway. A Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus, which was on its way from Reckong Peo to Haridwar via Shimla with 25 people on board, a Tata Sumo, and a few other vehicles were trapped under the debris. The HRTC bus driver, Mahinder Pal, was rescued and shifted to hospital.
Earlier, Station House Officer of Bhawanagar said around 30 to 40 people were trapped under the debris. Among the dead were five women and a child, a state official spokesperson said.
Of the deceased, two have been identified as Rohit Kumar (25) of Kaiya village in Rampur in Shimla district, and Vijay Kumar (32) of Jhol village in Sujanpur in Hamirpur district, Mokhta said. The State Disaster Management Authority has requisitioned the NDRF team from Nurpur for conducting the search and rescue operation, the SHO said.
District administration officials, search and rescue team comprising members of local police, home guards, NDRF, ITBP, CISF, Quick Response Team (Police) and a medical team were at the site, he said. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told the state assembly that there were reports that 50-60 people were feared trapped under the debris, but the exact number was not known.
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He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to him and the topmost priority was to rescue those trapped and provide them the best possible treatment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to Thakur over the incident.
"PM @narendramodi spoke to Himachal Pradesh CM @jairamthakurbjp regarding the situation in the wake of the landslide in Kinnaur. PM assured all possible support in the ongoing rescue operations,” the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
The officials identified the injured as HRTC bus driver Mahinder Pal of Bilaspur, bus conductor Gulab Singh of Mandi, Prashant, Varun Menon (both from Una), Rajender of Hamirpur, Daulat of Kinnaur, Shorang Project driver Charan Jeet Singh of Naleenakal in Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib, Saveen Sharma of Nepal, Japti Devi (60) of Rampur in Shimla, Chander Gyan of Pooh in Kinnaur, Arun (33) of Rampur, Anil Kumar (19) and Kaizang Negi of Skibba in Moorang in Kinnaur.
They have been shifted to Bhawanagar community health centre (CHC), the officials added.
Earlier on July 25, nine people were killed and three others injured in multiple landslides near Batseri on Sangla-Chitkul road in Kinnaur district. Similarly on July 27, at least eight people died, two were injured and two went missing in flash floods triggered by a cloudburst over the Tozing Nullah in Udaipur of Lahaul-Spiti district.
