Shimla, August 11 (UNI): At least 10 persons died and 14 others were rescued after a landslide struck five vehicles in Negalsari of Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district on Wednesday.
At least 15 to 20 people are still missing and a rescue operation is underway.
According to Deputy Commissioner Kinnaur Abid Husan Sadik, at least five vehicles, including a truck and a bus, were totally damaged in the incident and lay beneath the debris on the Hindustan-Tibet National Highway.
As many as 14 people, including the driver of the bus, have been rescued and admitted to civil health centre at Bhawanagar, he said.
The Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation bus was en route to Haridwar from Murang when the tragedy struck.
Though the National Disaster Response Team, State Administration Response (SAR), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and local police were pressed into service but the rescue operations took long to begin as the shooting stones and boulders kept slipping on the road between Bhavnagar- Negualseri in Kinnaur district about 130 km from here.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident and directed the officials to immediately undertake rescue operations and provide proper medical treatment to the affected.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have spoken to Thakur and assured all possible help.
Two of the deceased were identified as Rohit and Vijay.
