Death toll in Shimla temple disaster reaches 14, Rescuers retrieve body
As many as 14 bodies have been recovered in which they were trapped under the debris as a Shiva temple collapsed at Summer Hill in Shimla
Shimla: Rescuers on Thursday retrieved a body when it resumed search operations on the fourth day in the Himachal Pradesh capital where a massive landslide washed away a Hindu temple. With this, the death toll rose to 14.
The body was of a professor of Himachal Pradesh University here, an official informed. It was retrieved two km away from the disaster spot.
The authorities are suspecting that at least seven people might be trapped in the mud pile. The officials said all, except one body, were identified and handed over to their family members. Relatives of people have approached the local authorities to know about their whereabouts.
“So far we have received information about seven missing people and we are on the job to locate them,” a rescuer said.
He said the dead included seven of a family, comprising three children, who were inside the Shiv Bawadi temple in Summer Hill when the disaster occurred.
Pawan Sharma, 60, who owns a shop in the Summer Hill market, his wife Santosh Sharma, 57, son Aman Sharma, 32, daughter-in-law Archana Sharma, 27, and three granddaughters aged between 12 and 1.5 years were at the temple for a havan when it collapsed.
While bodies of four of the family members have been found, three are still missing with rescuers say chances of their survival look bleak.
The second in Command, 14 NDRF BS Rajput says “It has been more than 72 hours since the rescue operations started. We are using our special equipment to carry out rescue operations. A total of 120 personnel from NDRF, SDRF, Indian Army, Local Police and others are here at the spot. It is expected that more bodies will be recovered soon.”
Later, Shimla SP, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi says, “We are further planning the line of action. We have to make deep efforts in our rescue and retrieval operations because the impact is so massive. We will try to retrieve the remaining bodies by today evening. Coordinated efforts are being made in this direction. According to the missing report we are suspecting around 7 more people to be stuck here…”
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu, who visited the spot immediately after the disaster, described it “an unprecedented tragedy”. He said the state is battling the worst natural calamity in 50 years.
On the same day, Shimla witnessed another landslide in Fagli where five people were killed. A day later at least five houses collapsed in the Krishna Nagar area close to the Old Bus Stand in Shimla in which two people were killed.
Ms Kalinga