Landslide kills two pilgrims on Kedarnath route

A landslide on the Kedarnath highway near Munkatiya killed two and injured six, as debris hit a vehicle amid ongoing rain fury in Uttarakhand. Multiple recent rain-related tragedies have struck districts like Chamoli, Tehri, and Rudraprayag this monsoon

Rudraprayag: A landslide on the Kedarnath national highway left two people dead and six others injured on Monday, an official said. The accident took place at 7.34 am near Munkatiya between Sonprayag and Gaurikund.

Debris carrying rocks and boulders fell from the hillside at Munkatiya and hit a vehicle that was passing by the road, killing two passengers on the spot, Rudraprayag district Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said.

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Six others travelling in the vehicle were injured, two critically, he said.

The injured were rushed to a government hospital at Sonprayag from where two seriously injured people were referred to a higher centre, Rajwar said.

The deceased were identified as Rita (30) and Chandra Singh (68) from Barkot in Uttarkashi district.

The injured were identified as Mohit Chauhan, Naveen Singh Rawat, Pratibha, Mamata, Rajeshwari and Pankaj who are also from Uttarkashi district.

Rain fury in Uttarakhand has been claiming lives almost on a daily basis.

Two people were killed in the State in separate rain-related incidents in Tehri and Pithoragarh districts on Sunday.

Six people were killed and 11 went missing as heavy rains and a series of cloudbursts wreaked havoc in various districts of Uttarakhand early on August 29, triggering landslides that damaged houses and left people buried under mounds of rubble.

Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri, and Bageshwar districts bore the brunt of the natural calamity on Friday which came close on the heels of the Tharali disaster on August 23 which killed a woman and left another missing.

Uttarakhand has been hit hard by natural calamities this monsoon season.

Before the tragedy in Tharali in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand had already witnessed massive devastation on August 5 when a flash flood in the Kheer Ganga River demolished nearly half of Dharali, a key stopover on the Gangotri route dotted with hotels and homestays.

An army camp at the neighbouring Harsil area was also hit by flash floods. Sixty-nine people, who have been missing after the disaster, are yet to be traced.