Two killed, seven feared dead after landslide triggered by cloudburst hits campsite in Uttarkashi
Two labourers were killed, and seven others feared dead after a massive landslide, triggered by a cloudburst, struck their campsite near Silai Bend on the Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi in the early hours of Sunday, police said. Two labourers died, seven feared dead after a landslide hit a campsite near Silai Bend on the Yamunotri Highway in Uttarkashi. (HT Photo )
The incident took place at around 1 am, approximately 5 kms ahead of Paligad in Barkot tehsil on the national highway. Twenty nine people were present at the campsite when the landslide struck. Of these, 20 were moved to safety.
As the rescuers, involving personnel from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police, started a search and rescue operation, they recovered two bodies from the debris.
The bodies of Duje Lal (55), a resident of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh; Keval Bisht (43), a resident of Nepal were recovered.
Those still missing were identified as Roshan Chaudhary (37), Anveer Dhami (40), Kalluram Chaudhary (60), and Manish Dhami (32), residents of Nepal, and Jaychand alias Bobby (38), Chhotu (22), Priyansh (22), residents of Dehradun.
'Around 3 am, we were informed that a landslide struck a campsite of labourers involved in the construction of a hotel. Of the 29 people at the campsite, 20 were rescued. Two bodies have been recovered, while seven are still missing,' Uttarkashi district magistrate (DM) Prashant Kumar Arya said.
Rescue teams are searching for the missing people at a war footing, he said.
A part of the national highway was washed out due to the landslide. 'As per our assessment, around 10 metres of the national highway has been washed out. It will take some time for us to restore the traffic movement. The pilgrims undertaking the Char Dham yatra have been stopped at safe locations. Instructions have been issued to ensure availability of essential supplies for them,' he said, adding that the border roads organisation (BRO) and National Highway Authority have been directed to carry out the road restoration work.
'Five JCB machines, Poclain machines have been deployed to restore road connectivity,' he said.
'It is a new landslide zone. It was a safe spot..... No such incident was reported earlier there,' Arya said.
He added that additional district magistrate Mukta Mishra and Barkot sub divisional magistratre (SDM) Brijesh Tiwari, were supervising rescue and relief operations.
It came days after five people were buried under a landslide near 9 Kaichi Bhairav Temple on the Yamunotri trek route on June 23. Rescuers recovered two bodies from the debris and rescued an injured man on the same day. Two people are still missing.
In a review meeting in Dehradun, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed the officials to expedite the search operation for the 'missing' labourers.
He said, 'Out of 29 labourers, 20 have been rescued safely. The search operation by NDRF, SDRF and district administration is underway.....two bodies have been recovered.'
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