Uttarakhand: 7 feared dead as car buries under debris triggered by landslide

The teams from SDRF, Police, ITBP and Army were involved in rescue operation at the landslide hit site, but they had to suspend the operation due to low visibility after sunset

At least seven people were feared dead after the car they were travelling in was buried under heavy debris triggered by a landslide on the Dharchula-Gunji road in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh on Sunday, a senior official said.

The incident happened on the Dharchula-Gunji road in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh at 1pm on Sunday. (HT Photo)

Bhupendra Singh Mahar, district disaster management officer (DDMO), Pithoragarh, said the incident took place around 1pm.

He said, “The rescue teams from SDRF, Police, ITBP and Army are involved in rescue operation at the landslide hit site. However, we had to suspend the rescue and search operation due to low visibility after sunset. Two JCB machines were involved in the operation but the landslide was so massive that they couldn’t recover even a single person from the buried car.”

He added that the vehicle was on its way from Nabi to Dharchula and even picked up passengers on the way.

According to an eyewitness, Prakash Ronkali of Rongkong village in Dharchula block, the ill-fated Bolero was running ahead of his vehicle.