Himachal rains: 8 houses collapse in Shimla landslide, 2 feared trapped

At least eight houses, including six makeshift ones, were razed to the ground and a slaughterhouse was buried under debris in a landslide in Krishnanagar locality here on Tuesday evening.

Two persons are feared trapped under the rubble of the houses, officials said.

Uprooting of a large tree caused a landslip leading to the collapse of a cluster of houses with deafening noise.

At least two persons are feared trapped and possibility of more people under the debris cannot be ruled out, Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi told PTI.

Cracks had developed in some houses in the morning following which most of the residents vacated them, the officials said.

Local councillor Bittu Panna said at least two persons, who were inside the slaughterhouse, were feared trapped under the debris.

Videos of people in nearby houses screaming and telling the inmates to leave immediately were circulated on social media.

Heart-wrenching scenes of people calling for help and running for safety were witnessed at the site.

As the police, State Disaster Response Force and locals started rescue operations, several residents in the nearby houses ran out with their belongings.

“My husband is trapped in the debris,” a wailing woman who rushed to the spot after hearing the loud sound of the slide told PTI.

Atma Ram, an employee of the slaughterhouse, said that his manager was feared trapped beneath the rubble.

At the time of construction of the slaughterhouse, there were slides and houses were vacated. Even after construction of retaining walls, there was seepage, an eyewitness told PTI.

He said that at least 15 families had been left homeless after the incident.

On Monday, two landslides took place in Shimla, one at a Shiva temple in Summer Hill and the other at Fagli, which claimed 16 lives.

Heavy rains have battered Himachal Pradesh since Sunday, triggering landslides and cloudbursts that blocked several roads and led to house collapse incidents.

Uttarakhand landslide

The death toll in the landslide that swept away three shops in Uttarakhand’s Gaurikund on the way to Kedarnath on August 4 mounted to eight after rescuers on Tuesday pulled out the body of another victim, an official said.

The body of a girl was found near the banks of the Mandakini river in Munkutiya, Rudraprayag district disaster management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said.

The death toll in the tragedy, in which 23 people had gone missing, has risen to eight. Fifteen people were still missing, he said.

Meanwhile, search operations were resumed on Tuesday in the rain-ravaged areas of Uttarakhand to find the nine people who went missing after a series of landslides hit different parts of the state on Monday.

Efforts were also resumed to reopen national highways, state highways and a large number of rural roads that remain blocked due to the accumulation of debris of the landslides on them, the state disaster control room here said.

The Chardham yatra remains suspended for the second day on Tuesday due to a “red” alert issued by the meteorological department.