Death toll in Kinnaur landslide reaches 28 as 3 more bodies found

Bhanu Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 17

The bodies of three missing persons have been found from the landslide site at Nugalsari in Kinnaur district taking the toll to 28.

“We have found three more bodies and efforts are on to extract the bodies by the teams of NDRF, ITBP, police and home guards,” said Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Abid Hussain Sadiq.

Following the list of 14 missing people issued by the district, all 14 bodies have been found. However, five bodies are yet to be identified.

Rescue would continue for two more days in case more bodies were buried in the debris, the authorities said.

On Monday, fire tenders were called to flush the debris following which the three bodies were found on Tuesday.

As many as 13 injured people were rescued.

So far, 272 people have died in rain-related incidents in the monsoon season since June 13.

As many as 40 people have died in Kinnaur district during monsoon of which 34 were killed in landslides.

The deceased in the Nugalsari landslide are Rohit, Vijay Kumar, Meera Devi, Nitisha, Prem Kumari, Kamlesh Kumar, Vanshuka, Gyan Dass, Devi Chand, Radhika, Bhupender Singh, Hukum, Lasman Thapa, Suresh Kesi, Rakesh Kumar, Ravinder, Karunesh, Jagat Oli, Daleep Singh, Prabhu Lal, Gulpanchi, Khim Lal Gurang and Viraj Nath. Five bodies are yet to be identified.

A three-member team of experts from the Geological Survey of India visited the landslide site on August 15 to suggest remedial measures to stop the shooting stones and the report is awaited.