Two laborers were killed in a fierce landslide due to cloudburst at a camp site near the sewing bend on the Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi in the early hours of Sunday. Police said that seven others are expected to be killed. The incident occurred at around 1 pm, about 5 kilometers ahead of Paligad in Barkot tehsil on the National Highway. 29 people were present at the camp site at the time of landslides. Of these, 20 were taken to a safe place.
The rescue teams including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police personnel started the search and rescue operations, they recovered two bodies from the debris.
The bodies of 55 -year -old Duje Lal, a resident of Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, only 43 -year -old Bisht from Nepal were recovered.
The missing people have still been identified as 37 -year -old Roshan Chaudhary, 40 -year -old Anveer Dhami, 60 -year -old Kalluram Chaudhary and 38 -year -old Manish Dhami and 38 -year -old Jayachand alias Bobby, 22 -year -old Chhotu, 22 -year -old Priyan.
Prashant Kumar Arya, District Magistrate (DM) of Uttarkashi said, “At around 3 am, we got information that landslides have occurred on the camps of laborers engaged in the construction of the hotel. 20 of the 29 people on the camps were rescued. Two bodies have been recovered, while seven are still missing.”
He said that rescue teams are searching for missing people at war level. A part of the National Highway was washed away due to landslides. The Border Roads Organization (BRO) and the National Highways Authority have been instructed to do road restoration work.
He said, “According to our assessment, about 10 meters of the national highway has been washed away. It will take us some time to restore traffic movement. Pilgrims traveling Char Dham have been stopped at safe places. Instructions have been issued to ensure the availability of the necessary supply for them.”
“Five JCB machines, Poklen machines have been deployed to restore road connectivity,” he said. Arya said, “This is a new landslide area. It was a safe place … there was no such incident before.”
He said that Additional District Magistrate Mukta Mishra and Barkot Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Brijesh Tiwari are monitoring rescue and relief operations.
Earlier on June 23, five people were buried in a landslide near the 9 Kachi Bhairav temple on the Yamunotri trek route. Rescuers recovered two bodies from the rubble on the same day and rescued an injured person. Two people are still missing.
