Bodies of 14 buried in Arunachal landslide recovered

Bodies of 14 people of a family, including four minors, who were buried in a massive landslide in Arunachal Pradesh's Papum Pare district following incessant rains on Tuesday, were recovered on Wednesday, police said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other agencies were searching for survivors feared trapped under the rubble in Laptap village .

"They have recovered all the fourteen bodies including ten females and four males from the rubble," Inspector General of Police in-charge Law and Order, Nabin Payeng told IANS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday and took stock of the prevailing situation in the state and assured him all possible support from the central government.

Khandu also visited the landslide-hit area in Laptap to take stock of the ground situation and handed over Rs 10 lakh on behalf of state government to the next of kin of the victims as immediate relief.

He also donated Rs 30 lakh from his personal means as immediate assistance to the family.

Expressing his deep sorrow over the incident, Khandu said it is a moment of great sadness that 14 members from a single family have lost their lives in the tragic incident.

On Sagalee area being cut off from rest of the world, the Chief Minister said that district administration has been instructed to resume the relief and rescue operations for stranded people.

Altogether, 19 stranded passengers including seven patients out of which two whose condition was very serious were evacuated from Sagalee on Wednesday by helicopter.

Sagalee administrative headquarter has been totally cut off from the rest of the world for last many days due to massive landslides in many points of the road connecting it to Itanagar.

Twenty quintals of ration was supplied through air sortie to Sagalee on Wednesday to meet up the immediate shortage.

Papum Pare has been the worst-affected district where incessant monsoon rains have disrupted road communication due to landslides.

An Advanced Light Helicopter of the Indian Air Force engaged in flood rescue mission had crashed in the district on July 4, killing all four people on-board.

--IANS

rrk/vd