The Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for traffic on second consecutive day on Friday due to a massive landslide in Ramban district that left over 200 vehicles stranded, an official said.
The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was blocked by a major landslide at Mehaar area, said national highway SSP J S Johar.
The landslide occurred around 5.15pm on Thursday, he informed.
Johar added that soon after the landslide, NHAI staff and machinery were pressed into service to clear the debris off the highway.
“It’s a massive landslide. Around 200-metre stretch has been blocked, but 50 to 60 percent of it has been cleared. We hope that the remaining portion will be cleared by tonight,” he said.
The SSP informed that vehicles have been left stranded at various places including Qazigund and Nashri. Johar said, “Around 200 trucks and other vehicles are stranded in Nashri area and some on the Qazigund side of the Jawahar Tunnel while the traffic for Kashmir was also stopped at Udhampur following the landslide.”
A lighting system was also installed to carry out restoration works in the night hours, he said.
{{/usCountry}}A lighting system was also installed to carry out restoration works in the night hours, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Due to the intermittent rolling of stones, the debris clearing operation was started late on Friday.