Kinnaur Landslide Death Toll Rises to 13 as One More Body Found, Ill-fated Bus Located 200m Above Sutlej River Bed

One more body was retrieved from the site of landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur on Thursday morning, taking the death toll to 13. A state disaster management official said that the wreckage of the ill-fated Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus was found too by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops as the search and rescue operation for the victims trapped resumed early in the morning.

The official said that the bus was located at approximately 500 meters below the road and 200 meters above Sutlej river bed. The HRTC bus, which had been on its way from Reckong Peo to Haridwar via Shimla, was hit by the boulders after landslide around Wednesday noon near Chaura village on national highway number five in Nigulsari area of Nichar tehsil.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister said that the administration is yet to confirm the total number of passengers who were travelling on the bus. “The bus is still buried under debris. If the weather permits, Army will deploy its chopper for the rescue operation,” he said.

He later visited the site of the landslide and took stock of the situation.

President Ram Nath Kovind also enquired about the situation as he dialled governor Rajendra Arlekar and CM Jairam Thakur. “I was told that all steps are being taken to bring the affected people to safety,” he said.

ITBP spokesperson Vivek Pandey informed that the rescue operations had to be stopped due to shooting stones. “Rescue operations have been halted for last two hours due to shooting stones from uphill. At present, the national highway is closed,” he said.

Several people are still feared buried under the debris that trapped the bus and other vehicles. An official said that however 13 people have been rescued with injuries and sent to CHC-Bhawanagar for treatment. The number of dead may further increase as the passengers of HRTC bus and a Bolero were not found under the debris and are still untraceable.

News agency PTI had quoted a source as saying that it might be possible that both the vehicles rolled down with the debris.

Eight of the dead were found trapped in a Tata Sumo taxi during the search and rescue operation on Wednesday itself. A truck rolled down towards a riverside due to shooting stones and the driver’s body was recovered on Wednesday. A fully damaged Alto car was recovered on Wednesday but no one was found inside the car.

The rescue work resumed on Thursday at 6 am, the state Disaster Management Director Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said. The rescue operation is being carried out jointly by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the members of local police and home guards, he added.

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