National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel perform search and rescue operations. (Photo by Satish Bate/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Indian officials said that a landslide occurred in the mountainous Indian state of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, injuring 14 others and trapping dozens of people. The reason was that the boulder rolled down on a major highway on Wednesday and was smashed. And buried several cars.
Vivek Kumar Pandey, a spokesman for the paramilitary Indian-Tibet border police, told Reuters that about 30 people were still trapped, including passengers in a bus lying under the rubble.
“A large-scale landslide occurred on the Reckong Peo-Shimla highway,” Pandey said, adding later, “The operation is ongoing and we are trying to catch the bus.”
Abid Hussain Sadiq, a senior government official in the Kinnaur district where the incident occurred, said that the rescue operation may last overnight in an attempt to find survivors.
Officials said that more than 200 personnel, including the army, paramilitary forces and local police, are working along the No. 5 National Highway that extends along the Sutlej River, which borders northern India with China.
The local police chief Saju Ram Rana said that the large rocks on the landside that occurred around noon on Wednesday caused them to pour down the steep hillside and block the approximately 150-meter highway. highway.
“Debris fell from quite high places,” Rana told Reuters, adding that heavy machinery was being used to clear the area.
In photos shared by the authorities on social media, rescuers wearing helmets can be seen scrambling around the wreckage of vehicles trapped in rocks and loose mud.
In late July, at least 9 people were killed in landslides in different areas of Kinnaur District. In recent weeks, in another area of Himachal Pradesh, dozens of people were stranded due to landslides and flooding. Himachal Pradesh It is a beautiful Himalaya state, which is very popular with tourists.
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