Woman dead, 6 trapped after houses collapse in HP's Kullu
Shimla, Sept. 5 -- A fresh landslide hit Kullu's Akhada Bazaar, leaving one person dead and three injured, while six others, including 5 Kashmir residents and one local woman, are feared trapped after two houses collapsed on Thursday morning.
The deceased has beenidentified as Maharaj Lok, 30, hailing from Bandipura in Kashmir. The injured have been identified as Radhika, 73, Kamlesh, 60, and her son Abhinav, 32. Radhika and Kamlesh are being treated at regional hospital in Kullu and Abhinav has been referred to AIIMS Bilaspur.
Six people who are still buried under the rubble have been identified as Suman Devi, a local, Hussain, 45, Rashid Sheikh, 47, Gulgar Ahmed, 51, Tahir Sheikh, 23 and Sajjad Ahmed Wani, 33, all from Kashmir, who were working as labourers.
Deputy commissioner Torul S Raveesh said the rescue operation was underway as six people, including a woman, were feared buried in the debris when the houses collapsed in the Inner Akhara Bazaar area at 6.45am.
The three people rescued soon after the incident were rushed to the hospital, Raveesh said adding.
"I got up around 6 am and was preparing tea in the kitchen when I heard stones hitting the house and in the blink of eye I was buried under the utensils and rubble, " said injured Radhika. "Three persons were rescued and shifted to hospital while search is underway for six more buried under the debris," said NDRF assistant commandant Santosh. "We were already engaged in a nearby site and rushed to the spot in 10 minutes and rescued three people on time, " he added.
The victims are residents of Tulail, Bandipora, who were working as labourers in Himachal. Since the onset of monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 20, disasters in the state have claimed 355 lives, including 194 deaths, due to rain-related incidents and 161 in road accidents, according to the SEOC while 49 are missing.
Following Thursday's landslide, rescue teams from the district administration, NDRF, home guards, fire department, and police reached the spot and launched a search operation.
Continuous heavy rainfall is hampering rescue efforts, making the operation challenging, the DC said.
Another landslide in Devdhar of Kullu also posed a threat to 5 houses. They were evacuated on Thursday. In a similar incident in the Akhada Bazaar area of Kullu, two persons including an NDRF jawan are feared dead after two houses collapsed following a landslide late on Tuesday night. They have been identified as NDRF jawan Narinder, 37, and Kashmiri youth Waqar Ahmad, 24. Rescue operations are underway.
The Chamba administration began transporting nearly 500 stranded devotees from Bharmour to Chamba on Thursday.
A spokesperson of state government said that despite adverse weather conditions, 35 ailing and elderly devotees were safely airlifted to Chamba by a small helicopter, which completed seven sorties during the day.
The Air Force's MI-17 helicopter has also been stationed at Pathankot to meet any exigency.
The spokesperson said that at certain stretches, where roads have been damaged, adequate security personnel have been deployed by the district administration for their assistance and to ensure their safety. In addition, free food, drinking water, transport and other essential facilities have been arranged en-route to prevent any inconvenience to them.
Chamba deputy commissioner Mukesh Repaswal said that free helicopter services have been arranged from Bharmour to Chamba to ensure the safe return of pilgrims. He added that priority is being given to sick, injured, and elderly devotees.
The MeT department officials said that light to moderate rainfall is likely at a few places in Himachal till September 10. A yellow alert of thunderstorms and lightning has been sounded for September 5 in Kangra, Mandi, Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts. During the last 24 hours, the monsoon activity was active over the state. Light to moderate rain was observed at most places with heavy rain at isolated places....
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