10-day long ‘Winter Carnival’ commences at Shimla
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurated the ten-day long Winter Carnival Shimla at The Ridge here on Tuesday.
Nine persons died on the spot while three are injured when a boulder fell on their car at Himachal Pradesh”s Kinnaur district. The rockslide has damaged a Bailey bridge and part of the highway.
It is learnt that all the nine deceased persons were residents of Delhi NCR. The tourists were on the way from Sangla to Chitkul, a popular tourist spot some 250 km from the state capital, when the boulders fell on their vehicle, killing nine on the spot.
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Superintendent of Police S.R. Rana said the rescue operation is on and the road has been closed for the traffic. The accident caused nearly 50 vehicles to remain stranded on the road stretch. Two of the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital where they are undergoing treatment for serious injuries.
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After the accident, the administration and few locals immediately engaged in a rescue operation where the bodies and the injured were extricated from the mangled vehicle under the boulder. Eyewitnesses said the administration had a tough time pulling out the victims from under the boulders. People in the area began rescue operations even before local authorities reached the spot.
Expressing grief over the accident, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur asked local authorities to speed up the rescue work and provide relief to the next of kin of each of those killed and injured.
A video of the disaster showing massive boulders sliding off the hilltop and damaging a bailey bridge and a portion of the highway has gone viral.
…With IANS inputs
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