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Two dead, eight missing after cloudburst in HP’s Lahaul-SpitiBy Hindustan Times

Two persons died and eight were missing after a cloudburst flooded Tozing Nullah and washed away two tents of labourers and a JCB machine in Lahaul and Spiti district even as heavy rain since Tuesday night triggered flashfloods and landslides in other parts of Himachal Pradesh.

Lahaul and Spiti deputy commissioner Neeraj Kumar said the missing included four personnel of the Border Roads Organisation and General Reserve Engineer Force (BRO-GREF).

Also read: 5 dead, several missing due to cloudburst in Jammu’s Kishtwar district

He said two bodies have been recovered. One is that of a Kashmiri labourer and the other remains unidentified. Rescue teams, comprising members of the BRO, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), were trying to locate those missing.

Kumar said army personnel Mohan Singh, 38, and his family members were rescued from Chhatting village. Singh was undergoing treatment at the Regional Hospital, Keylong. His family members are safe and have been sent to Jahalma.

NDRF help sought in Lahaul-Spiti district

“We have requisitioned a unit of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) which is on its way,” the DC said. Several roads in the high-altitude tribal district are blocked due to landslides.

State disaster management director Sudesh Mokhta said a landslide near Kirting village of Lahaul sub-division had blocked state highway number 26. At least 50 vehicles are stranded in the area and efforts to restore traffic are on. Another landslide occurred on the highway at Hawai Mod near Kukumseri village.

An incident of flashflood was reported at Keylong village, which blocked the Leh-Manali highway. The BRO is engaged in clearing the stretch.

The Kullu-Manali highway is closed at multiple spots due to landslides. Earlier, the district authorities rescued 70 people stranded at Chitkul in Kinnaur after Sunday’s incident of shooting stones that claimed nine lives.

According to the state emergency operation centre, a flashflood was reported in Udaipur’s Changut village and Udgos Nullah at 6pm on Tuesday, washing away an old house and damaging a bailey bridge. A tractor was also washed away and loss to farmland has been reported. People residing on the banks of the rivulet have been shifted to safer places.

Another flashflood was reported in Mooring Nullah in Udaipur that stalled traffic on state highway number 26. A flash flood occurred at Hukka Nullah of Rakchham in Sangla in Kinnaur district but no major loss to property was reported.

Five missing in Chamba and Kullu

In Chamba, a JCB helper was swept away in a flash flood triggered by heavy rain at Chaned on the Chamba-Pathankot highway.

Rescuers of the state police and home guards are searching for the missing.

A 25-year-old woman, Poonam Negi, and her four-year-old son, Nikunj, went missing after being swept away in the Brahmaganga rivulet, a tributary of the Parvati river in Manikaran valley of Kullu district.

Officials said they were passing by the rivulet when the water level suddenly rose.

A tourist from Delhi, Vinita, 25, and a local resident, Vijender, were also missing.

In Shimla town, a landslide occurred near Tenzin Hospital, damaging a car.

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