Three persons including a child were killed when they were buried alive under debris due to landslide following heavy rains at Purli village about thirty-eight kilometers today. The injured have been admitted to Hamirpur hospital for treatment, according to R.K.Pruthi, the SDM, Hamirpur.
The deceased have been identified as Sushma Devi and Julfi ram and Harish a three years old boy.
SDM told reporters that all these persons were crossing through the Hamirpur-Kakker road when they were trapped under huge debris following landslides around 12.00 A.M. He said that local villagers immediately swung into action and also informed the district administration about the incident.
Pruthi said that he reached the spot in time along with teams of the medical and police departments to extricate the bodies from under the debris. He said that there were no more bodies under debris as suspected by the local villagers.
He said dead bodies had been brought to Hamirpur for postmortem examination. They would be handed over to their parents thereafter.
Meanwhile, people in large number gathered at Purli accident site and blasted the PWD authorities for the accident. They alleged that had the PWD taken steps in time to repair the retaining wall, this incident would have been avoided.
Senior BJP leader and former chief minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal reached the accident site and enquired about its cause. He was pained to know that the site where the accident took place was under construction since long but no concrete efforts were taken by the PWD to repair the road. He said that he would take up this matter with the state government.
Dhumal expressed his shock grief over the incident and demanded cash compensation to the bereaved families. He also demanded action against those who are responsible for the poor condition of road that led to this sad incident.
landslide