Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): Six more bodies were recovered from the site of the landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district, taking the death toll to 23 on the fourth day of rescue and search operations on Saturday, a senior official said. State Disaster Management Director Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said six bodies had been retrieved from the rubble at Chaura village on National Highway 5 in Nichar tehsil.
The search and rescue operation for the rest of the nine missing persons is underway, he added. Meanwhile, keeping in view the continuous falling of shooting stones at the sliding point, Nichar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Manmohan Singh ordered to restrict all types of vehicles at this point for the safety of the public from 9 pm to 9 am.
In his order issued on Thursday, he stated that the station house officer of Bhawanagar police station would ensure deputing of police force at both ends of the site. On Friday evening, two people were injured after stones falling down a mountainside hit their bus near the area. In the meantime, Mokhta said search and rescue operations, which had been suspended on Friday night, resumed again on Saturday around 6 am.
Read: Himachal landslide: 2 more bodies recovered; death toll rises to 19
An SUV and its passengers feared buried under the rubble could not be traced so far, he said, adding that it might be possible that the vehicle rolled down with the debris. The rescue operation is being carried out jointly by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and members of local police and home guards.
