6 killed in landslides in Chamoli district

Dehradun, Aug 12: Six persons, including a woman and her nine-month-old daughter, were buried alive as landslides triggered by heavy rains hit three different villages in Ghat area of Chamoli district on Monday morning, officials said.

Erosion caused by swirling waters of the flooded Chuflagad River also washed away two buildings standing close to it. The state emergency operation centre in Dehradun said the debris of landslides fell over three houses in Banjabgad, Aligaon and Lankhi villages in Ghat area of the district early on Monday, trapping the occupants. All of them suffocated to death, it said, adding all the deceased except one were women.

While Rupa Devi and her daughter Chanda were killed in Banjbagad village, 21-year-old Naurati Devi was killed in Aligaon and three others in Lankhi village, it said. Those killed in Lankhi village were identified as Kumari Arti, Kumari Anjali and Ajay, it said.

Three houses in these villages were totally damaged in the heavy rains which also claimed the lives of half a dozen livestock and around 40 goats. Damage to buildings was also reported from Ghat market close to Chuflagad, a tributary of Nandakini river, which was in spate.

Erosion caused by the swirling waters of the flooded Chuflagad river washed away two buildings standing close to it. Housing residential accommodations as well as shops, the buildings adjacent to each other fell like a pack of cards and merged with the river within seconds.

However, there was no casualty in the incident as the buildings had been vacated by their occupants in apprehension, District Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said. People living in the area are being evacuated to safer locations, he said.