Nine people — eight tourists and their driver — were killed after a boulder racing down a hill during a landslide smashed into their tempo traveller in Sangla valley of Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. Huge rocks and boulders fell on the road and led to the collapse of a bridge over the Bapsa river that connects Batseri village with the rest of Kinnaur.
Eight tourists died on the spot and another succumbed on the way to the hospital. The tourists were going from Chitkul to Sangla. They were on the Sangla-Bateseri road near Bateseri village when a massive landslide occurred in the hill above them, sending several huge boulders rolling down the slope. Visuals on social media showed large chunks of rocks crashing down the Sangla Valley. After this, a section of the bridge crumbles and plunges into a river. Among those killed was a 27-year-old naval officer from Darri in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district and his US-based friend; a 34-year-old woman ayurveda doctor from Jaipur; and three members of a family from Sikar in Rajasthan. A 27-year-old woman from Nagpur, and the driver of the minibus belonged to Delhi also died in the incident. Officials were unable to say immediately where the ninth victim, identified as Kumar Ulhas Vedpathak, was from. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences to the families. “An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in an accident in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh. Rs 50,000 would be given to the injured,” he said.
