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6, including infant, die after house gives way in rains in Uttarakhand

The deaths happened in three separate incidents in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, which has been battered by heavy rains.

Updated on: Aug 12, 2019, 13:24:18 IST
Hindustan Times, Dehradun | By
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At least six people, including two women and three children, were killed after getting crushed under their houses damaged amid heavy rains in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Monday morning, said officials.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team received information about the incident at around 8am after which it launched a search and rescue operation. (HT Photo)
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team received information about the incident at around 8am after which it launched a search and rescue operation. (HT Photo)

The deaths happened in three separate incidents in the district, which has been battered by heavy rains. The three bodies of a mother and her infant daughter and another woman were recovered by personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in the morning.

“In one of the incidents, in Gauchar area of the district, two bodies were recovered from the remains of a crumbled house which was damaged due to heavy rains in the area,” Praveen Alok, an SDRF official, said.

“The deceased was a mother-daughter duo, including a 23-year-old woman and her nine-month-old daughter,” he added.

Later, three more bodies, including those of two girls aged two and four and a 24-year-old man, were recovered from another damaged house.

Two engineering students drowned late on Sunday in Premnagar area of Dehradun after they were swept away by the strong currents of a local river where they had gone to bathe with friends.

“The deceased identified as Abhishek Kandpal, 22, a resident of Haldwani, and Mihir Bateja, 19, a resident of Delhi, had gone to take bath in Nimi river in the area along with four other friends. All of them were first-year students of BTech in a Dehradun-based engineering college,” Dehradun’s senior superintendent of police Arun Mohan Joshi said.

As the six were bathing in the river, the water level of the river suddenly increased due to heavy rains.

“The two got swept away with the strong water flow and drowned. The local police and SDRF team reached as soon as they received information about it. One of the bodies was received few metres away from the spot while another was recovered from 13km away from the spot,” added Joshi.

“Families of both have been informed about it and investigations are on.”

  • Kalyan Das
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Kalyan Das

    Kalyan Das covers crime, transport, human rights and central government offices from Bhopal and Indore.