Landslide in Nainital claims three lives

Nainital, July 10 (ANI): Incessant overnight rains resulted in landslide at Nainital in Uttarakhand on Friday.

Due to the impact of the landslide, a boulder fell on a house in the early morning hours crushing three members of a family while they were asleep.

"There was a boulder lying behind the house. It rolled down all of a sudden and fell on the house. My brother was inside the house," said Damodar, a kin of the victim and an eyewitness.

The house was being demolished, probably for a renovated construction and almost all the household items were stored in a single room. All these things were also extensively damaged by the fall of the boulder on the house.

"Today in the morning when it was raining, a boulder fell down on the members of a family who were sleeping because of which they died. A couple and a child died in this mishap," said H S Hayanki, Police Inspector, Nainital.

Landslides have been a recurring phenomenon in Nainital, which is located in the hills.

Civic officials in Nainital say that although much had been done in the past to prevent the landslides, excessive urbanisation has upset the physical topography of the region and nullified the efforts of the administration. (ANI)