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Kinnaur landslide: Rat inspired survivor to dig himself out of debris
Police had also reached the spot to rescue him, but had to turn back twice as the boulders continued to fall at frequent intervals. He was finally rescued in the third attempt.
Charanjit Singh, whose Bolero camper had slid down the national highway minutes after he got off it, said he was left covered in the debris up to the waist level but he did not give up hope.
“I called out for help several times but no one heard me. Then I thought about how rats dig holes in the earth, and started removing the debris around my legs with my own hands,” said Charanjit, who is a driver with the Shorang hydel project and was enroute from Bhawanagar to Rampur when disaster struck.
Police had also reached the spot to rescue him, but had to turn back twice as the boulders continued to fall at frequent intervals. He was finally rescued in the third attempt.
Charanjit also saw the HRTC bus falling off the cliff. The bodies of four passengers of the bus were recovered today while at least 20 are still feared to be trapped under the debris.
Mahender Pal, the driver of the ill-fated bus, who was among the first batch of survivors, is still in shock. “When I saw the rocks falling down, I stopped the bus and alighted from the vehicle to assess the situation. But just as I turned back to return to the bus, I saw it rolling down the side of the hill. It seemed like the entire hill was crumbling. I, along with conductor and another person, just stood on one side, praying for our life. We were lucky that we survived. But I pray that the other passengers survive,” said the bus driver who is currently undergoing treatment at the community health centre in Bhawanagar. According to him, there were 24 passengers in the bus when it rolled down.
