5 of family among 6 killed as car falls into gorge in Chamba
Shimla, Aug. 9 -- Six people, including five members of a family, were killed when a boulder hit their car, causing it to veer off the road and roll down a 500-metre gorge in the Chanvas area of Churah sub-division in Chamba district on Thursday night, police said.
The deceased were identified as Rajesh Kumar, 40, a government school teacher from Bulwas village, his wife, Hanso, 36, their daughter Aarti, 17, and son Deepak, 15. Also among the dead were Hanso's brother Hemraj, 37, who was a junior commissioned officer (JCO) in the army and had come home on leave a fortnight ago.
A fellow villager who had taken a lift from the family, Rakesh Kumar, 44, died on the spot. Rajesh Kumar was a teacher at Banikhet, where his children also studied. The family was returning to Bulwas to celebrate Rakshabandhan and was about a kilometre away from their house when the accident occurred.Hemraj was going to drop his sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece to their house.
Villagers rushed to the spot on hearing the screams and informed the police. The accident took place around 9.30pm on Thursday and it took six hours to recover the bodies. A case was registered.
The Met department has predicted continuous rainfall in the state. As many as 357 roads, including two national highways, have been closed owing to landslides in the state.
A landslide occurred on the Chandigarh-Manali four-lane on Friday afternoon after boulders rolled down on the road from a hill in Jhidi in Mandi district on the NH 21 between Mandi-Kullu. Due to this, the four-lane has been closed for vehicles. The work of restoration was started immediately but repeated sliding on the land is delaying the restoration work.
Meanwhile, light rainfall was recorded at isolated places in Kangra, Mandi, Bilaspur, and Sirmaur districts in the past 24 hours.
The Met department has issued a fresh warning of continued rainfall activity in Himachal Pradesh, with heavy rain expected in many parts of the state over the next few days. The IMD has issued an orange alert for August 11 and 12 in three districts and a yellow alert for the remaining districts.
The IMD also reported that rainfall in Himachal Pradesh during August so far is 35% above normal, with districts like Solan, Kullu, Kinnaur, Bilaspur, and Una recording almost double the average rainfall.
As per SEOC, since June 20, a total of 202 deaths have been recorded due to monsoon-related incidents. Of these, 108 people lost their lives due to rain, floods, and landslides, while 94 deaths occurred in road accidents, as per the latest official data.
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that he has sought a special relief package for the rain-battered state. He said that the state government is pressing the Centre for a special relief package."We are demanding a special relief package from the Centre. The damage is extensive, and the situation is being continuously assessed," Sukhu said.
A multi-task worker was killed in an accident in Mandi on Friday after a portion of the road sank and his car fell into a gorge. The deceased has been identified as a multi-task worker of the jal shakti department Hakam Thakur. He was a resident of Fandar village in Mandi. As per police, Thakur was working as a multi-task worker in the Jal Shakti Department in JE Section Kalhani. Police said that the accident happened after a portion of the road sank after which the car rolled down into a gorge....
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