Kinnaur landslide: Two more bodies recovered, toll rises to 15

The toll from a landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district increased to 15 on Friday after two more bodies were recovered, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police said.

However, Himanshu Misra, the Inspector General of Police (South Range) of Himachal Pradesh, said that 16 bodies have been recovered till now. Thirteen people have been injured in the landslide, he said.

The rescue officials recovered the bodies near the wreckage of a bus that was hit by the landslide on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Hindustan Times. The bus belonged to the Himachal Road Transport Corporation and was on its way from Reckong Peo in Kinnaur to Shimla when the landslide took place.

#Kinnaur landslide search and rescue operations.
2 more dead bodies retrieved from rubble this morning. Total 15 dead bodies have been retrieved till now by the search and rescue teams.#kinnaurlandslide pic.twitter.com/gInj4OKwFr

— ITBP (@ITBP_official) August 13, 2021

Kinnaur Superintendent of Police Sarju Ram Rana told the Hindustan Times that two excavators have been deployed to reach the wreckage of the bus. He said that while a manual search will continue, search and rescue teams have deployed two fork-line machines to remove the rubble and look for people who might be trapped underneath.

On Thursday, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur and Transport Minister Bikram Thakur met those injured in the landslide.

Thakur announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh…

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