Himachal Pradesh: Six killed after landslide buries two houses in Mandi

A landslide triggered by heavy rains on Tuesday killed six persons and buried two houses in the Sundernagar area of Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district, The Indian Express reported.

Five of those who died were identified as Gurpreet Singh, his wife Bharti, their daughter Kirat, Shanti Devi and Surender Kaur, The New Indian Express reported. The sixth victim reportedly was an unidentified man who was passing by on a two-wheeler when the debris hit.

More casualties are feared as rescue operations are underway, officials said.

“Teams from the police, State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force are working round the clock to clear the debris,” The Indian Express quoted Mandi Deputy Commissioner Apoorv Devgan as saying. “As a precautionary measure, two adjacent houses have been evacuated, one of which sustained partial damage.”

In another incident, a landslide struck a residential area in Kullu’s inner Akhara Bazaar late on Tuesday night, damaging a house and leaving two persons feared trapped, The New Indian Express reported.

The state has witnessed heavy rains for the last few days.

During this year’s monsoon, there have been 182 deaths in rain-related incidents and 159 fatalities in road accidents in Himachal Pradesh, ANI quoted State Disaster Management Authority as saying on Wednesday.

The rain-related fatalities include 23 deaths in landslides, nine in flash floods, 17 in cloudbursts, 33 in drowning, 14 in...

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