Death toll in Himachal landslide rises to 14, 13 people rescued

Kinnaur: Wreckage of the bus carrying 22 passengers that was buried under a landslide in Negulsari in Kinnaur district , 210 kilometres from Shimla, has been found 70 metres down National Highway 5 on Wednesday morning, said superintendent of police Kinnaur Sarju Ram Rana.

The rescue operations that were halted last night due to darkness resumed at the break of dawn. “The bus was [probably hit by the big boulders] slid down hill with the debris,” said Rana. Teams from I Indo Tibetan Border Police, Himachal Police, Army and Himachal Police, are carrying out rescue operations. About a 70 metre stretch of the highway was blocked by debris . The road was reopened for traffic last night. There were about 300 vehicles stranded on the both sides of the road . “Three bodies of passengers were recovered from the wreckage in morning. Until last night, 10 bodies were retrieved from the wreckage till suspension of rescue operations.”

“There is no exact count of the persons feared trapped in debris; but we expect that the number could be as high as 25,” he said.

One Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus which was en route from Reckong Peo to Haridwar, one car, one Tata Sumo and one truck were found buried under the debris. Rescue teams retrieved eight bodies from the Tata Sumo. One Bolero vehicle and its passengers are still untraceable. “There were about 22 passengers in the bus when it got buried,” said HRTC managing director Sandeep Kumar. Both driver and conductor had alighted the vehicle to inquire about the road condition and when they turned back the bus was buried under debris,” he said. “Both are in a state of shock,” he said. The truck, hit by boulders had slid to the river side; and the body of the driver was recovered Wednesday yesterday evening. The wreckage of the bus was traced at 8.15am on Thursday.

Director State Disaster Management Authority Sudesh Mokta said that 37 persons from the NDRF joined the rescue operations.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said he will visit the landslide site in Kinnaur today.

The CM said that the rescue operation was halted last night. It resumed in the early morning today and is currently underway.

“Till now 13 bodies have been recovered from the landslide site in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and state police teams are engaged in search and rescue operations at the Kinnaur landslide site,” said CM Thakur.

Thakur further said that the number of passengers travelling on the bus buried under debris is still not confirmed.

“We still don’t know the total number of passengers who were travelling on the bus. The bus is still buried under debris. If the weather permits, Army will deploy its chopper for the rescue operation. I plan to visit the landslide site in Kinnaur today,” Thakur added.