The toll from a landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district increased to 23 after six more bodies were recovered on Saturday, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police said.
On August 11, a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus was going from Reckong Peo in Kinnaur to Shimla when it was hit by a landslide in Nigulsari village.
State Disaster Management Director Sudesh Kumar Mokhta told PTI on Saturday that the bodies were recovered from the rubble at Chaura village situated on National Highway 5. Search operations are still underway, he added.
Search and rescue teams have rescued a total of 13 people from the site till now, according to The Times of India. The injured persons were admitted to a community health centre in Bhawanagar town, while two have been sent to hospitals in Shimla and Sujanpur.
Stones tumbling on to the site have hampered rescue efforts. The ITBP personnel were forced to briefly halt operations on Thursday. A team of engineers will now survey the hilltop and suggest ways to deal with the challenge, The Tribune reported.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur had announced compensation of Rs 4 lakh for the families of the dead, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh. Himachal Pradesh’s transport department will also give them Rs 1 lakh. The Himachal Pradesh government has promised compensation of Rs 50,000 to the critically injured and will bear treatment expenses of those who sustained minor injuries.
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