Kinnaur landslide toll reaches 16 with recovery of two more bodies

The bodies were recovered close to the wreckage of a bus with 22 people on board that was hit by boulders and buried under their debris

The toll from the landslide at Negulsari in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur went up to 16 after two more bodies were found from the rubble 70 metres downhill on Friday morning. The bodies were recovered close to the wreckage of a bus with 22 people on board that was hit by boulders and buried under their debris.

NDRF team engage in search and rescue operation at the landslide site, in Kinnaur on Thursday, August 12. (ANI)

The landslide buried at least five vehicles on a road on Wednesday afternoon.

Police superintendent (Kinnaur) Sarju Ram Rana said the administration has deployed two excavators to reach the wreckage of the bus. “Manual search will continue besides two fork line machines have been deployed to remove the rubble to search for people feared trapped underneath,” said Rana.

State Disaster Management Authority director Sudesh Mokta said they have been unable to trace a car that went missing after the landslide and they also do not know how many passengers were in it.

Rescuers earlier recovered two other cars from the rubble.