Two of family killed as tree falls on house in Rampur

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 13 

Two women were killed on the spot while three persons injured when a tree, uprooted by a major landslide triggered by heavy rain, fell on a house at Bajwa village in Rampur, Shimla district, 145 km from here, last evening.

The deceased were identified as Jitun and her daughter Saira Bano while the injured were Meera, Samaya and Bashir, husband of Saira Bano. Fire tenders and police teams were rushed to the spot from Jeory and Ghanvi after receiving the information, police sources said.

 The injured persons were rushed to the Rampur Civil Hospital in ambulance. After administering first-aid, Bashir was referred to the IGMC, Shimla, and his condition is stated to be critical. He had to wait for several hours for medical aid as the village was inaccessible by road. 

The Gujjar family lived here in a makeshift home during summer along with a herd of cattle. Meanwhile, the death toll in rain-related accidents this monsoon has mounted to 23.   

Several places witnessed landslides and 122 roads were closed. Widespread moderate to heavy rain occurred in the state and Sujanpur Tira was the wettest with 110 mm rain while Guler, Nagrota Surian and Gohar recorded 103 mm, 96 mm and 69 mm rain, followed by  Dehra Gopipur 67 mm, Mandi 47 mm, Gaggal 43 mm, Bangana 36 mm, Una 34 mm, Palampur 33 mm, Nadaun 32 mm, Jogindernagar 30 mm, Dharamsala 27 mm, Pandoh  and  Nahan 25 mm, Bhoranj 22 mm, Chamba 19  mm, Fagu 18 mm, Kufri 12 mm, Dalhousie 8 mm and Shimla 7 mm.

Mandi was the hottest during the day with the maximum temperature at 32.7 degree while Kufri was the coldest with a low of 13 degree, followed by Keylong and Kalpa 14 degree and 15.2 degree. The Met office has warned of heavy rain at a few places in mid and lower hills on August 16 and 17 and predicted the continuous wet spell over six days from August 14 to August 19.