Viral video: Boulders hit Himachal transport bus in Kinnaur; narrow escape for passengers

Tribune News Service
Shimla, August 13

Two people were wounded in a rockslide in Himachal’s Kinnaur district on Friday, officials said. 

Boulders sliding downhill hit a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus on its way to Reckongpeo from Mandi. Several passengers had a narrow escape, officials said.

The incident occurred in the same area where a landslide had claimed several lives earlier.  

The victims have been identified as Anita Kumari and Anubhav Negi, officials said. A video of the incident has since gone viral.

Video: Landslide blocks flow of Chenab in Himachal’s Lahaul-Spiti; 11 villages run risk of being submerged

The wounded are being treated at the community health centre in Bhawanagar.

Meanwhile,  the death toll in the landslide has climbed to 17 with the recovery of three more bodies on Friday, a senior disaster management official said.

The district administration has released details of 13 missing persons.

Rescue operations resumed this morning to trace the 20 others still missing in the landslide that occurred near Chaura village in the district on Wednesday.

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Video: Landslide blocks flow of Chenab in Himachal’s Lahaul-Spiti; 11 villages run risk of being submerged

While 10 bodies were recovered on Wednesday, four were found on Thursday from the landslide site. Besides, 13 people were rescued on Wednesday itself.

State Disaster Management Director, Sudesh Kumar Mokhta, said the search and rescue operation resumed around 5.30 am.

The authorities had suspended the search operation on Thursday night.

A Bolero and its passengers feared buried under the rubble could not be traced, Mokhta said, adding that it might be possible that the vehicle rolled down with the debris.                             

The rescue operation is being carried out jointly by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the members of local police and home guards.

Meanwhile, machines reached the spot where the wreckage of HRTC bus was found. Earlier, rescue work was being done manually. The target is to recover all the bodies by tonight, said Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Abid Hussain Sadiq. — With PTI