DEHRADUN: Incessant heavy rainfall in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand over the past three days has triggered a series of landslides, with the latest incident occurring in Toli village, Bhilangana block, Tehri district. A mother and daughter were crushed to death in their sleep as their house was buried under debris late on Friday night. Other family members managed to escape by fleeing the scene in the dead of night.Following the landslide incident, teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), police, and revenue police rushed to Toli village to carry out rescue operations. Meanwhile, all schools in Bhilangana block have been closed due to heavy rainfall. The administration has also appealed to villagers in sensitive areas to remain vigilant and exercise caution.Speaking to TNIE, Ramesh Jirwal, the head of Toli village, recounted the events of the tragic incident: “Last night, around 2:30 am, heavy rainfall pounded the area. During the time, house of local resident Veerendra Lal was hit by a landslide. Veerendra’s wife, Sarita Devi, 36, and their 15-year-old daughter, Ankita, were buried alive under the debris while they were sleeping inside the house.”Inspector Kavindra Sajwan of the SDRF told this newspaper, “After a grueling search and rescue operation that lasted for an hour and a half, the SDRF team recovered the bodies.”the duo got buried under the debris of a house following a landslide, in Tehri Garhwal district, Saturday, July 27, 2024. In another tragic incident, a one-day-old infant from Sahiya in the Chakrata area died while being taken to a higher medical centre for treatment. The family’s vehicle got stuck in the landslides of the region, causing the newborn to breathe its last on the way.According to information received from the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Sahiya, the infant was referred to a higher medical centre for treatment. The family was travelling to Vikasnagar when their vehicle got stuck due to debris on the Kalsi-Chakrata motor road at Jajard. Despite waiting for two hours for the road to clear, the family was unable to find an alternative route, and the newborn succumbed on the way.In a separate incident on Saturday, a vehicle bearing a Maharashtra registration number was involved in an accident while travelling from Badrinath to Chamoli.According to SDRF sources, a couple travelling from Badrinath to Chamoli in their private car lost control of the vehicle, which skidded off the road and teetered on the edge of a cliff.The driver, a 30-year-old man, was ejected from the car and fell into the gorge, while his wife remained trapped inside. Local police and passersby rescued the woman and took her to a nearby hotel, launching a search operation for the missing man.An SDRF team conducted an extensive search operation and found the man’s body approximately 300 metres below the incident site, near the riverbank. The deceased has been identified as Anoop, son of Purushottam, a resident of Nagpur, Maharashtra. His wife, Tripti, is safe.
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