Kinnaur landslide: Himachal CM meets injured, announces Rs 5L for kin of deceased

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Nugalsari (Kinnaur), August 12

Four more bodies were retrieved today from the wreckage of an HRTC bus buried under the debris of a massive landslide between Chaura and Nugalsari (Kinnaur), taking the death toll to 14. Around 20 to 25 persons are still missing.

Bus was carrying 24 passengers

Rolling stones were falling from the hilltop and we (driver and conductor) parked the bus and went to take stock of the situation. The moment we returned, stones started falling where the bus was parked. While we were asking other people to reverse their vehicles, a massive landslide occurred. The ill-fated bus had 24 passengers — Mahinder Pal, Driver of the HRTC bus

Rescued in third attempt: Car driver

• Charanjit Singh, driver of a Mahendra Bolero SUV that was buried under the landslide, had a miraculous escape
• As soon as the vehicles stopped at the landslide site, boulders started rolling down the hill and several vehicles were buried under the debris
• An HRTC bus also rolled down the hill with the force of the landslide and the passengers cried for help for more than one and a half hour.
• “We were in knee-deep mud. The police rescue teams made two attempts to save us but falling boulders prevented them from advancing. However, they succeeded in their third attempt to rescue us,” he said.

The rescue operations were resumed this morning and a team of 17 battalion of the ITBP traced the wreckage of the bus between the National Highway No. 5 and the road below and retrieved four bodies. Shooting stones and boulders rolling down after brief intervals hampered the rescue operations on the 150-metre stretch.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who visited the landslide site, said that the rescue work was going on in full swing but rolling stones and shooting boulders were posing a risk and hindering the smooth operations.

There is no authentic information about the number of persons trapped in the HRTC bus. It may take one or two more days to complete the rescue operations as machinery could not be deployed on steep slopes and the rescue work had to be done manually. “The bus has been traced while other vehicles have also been pulled out of the debris,” he added.

The CM also visited the Community Health Centre at Bhawanagar. He also met the next of kin of the deceased and the family members of those missing. He announced an immediate relief of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured persons, besides free medical treatment.

The deceased have been identified as Rohit, Vijay Kumar, Meera Devi, Nitisha, Prem Kumari, Kamlesh Kumar, Vanshuka, Gyan Dassi, Devi Chand, Radhika, Bhupender and Lakshman Thapa. The relatives of the persons feared trapped in the bus were camping at the landslide site.