Shimla, August 14 : Rescuers on Monday started the second day of their search operation in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district where a massive mudslide swallowed a 150m stretch of road burying homes, two buses and vehicles and leaving 46 dead.
The authorities are suspecting one or two more persons might be trapped in the mud pile that spread over a 300-metre area. “On Monday morning we started operation to locate the missing and to retrieve bodies,” Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kadam, who is supervising the operation, told IANS over phone. “Since the weather is clear, we are expecting to complete the search operation by Monday evening,” a rescuer said. A mudslide triggered late on Saturday night by heavy rain has killed at least 46 people and injured five. All bodies have been identified and would be handed over to their families after post-mortem on Monday, an official said.He said most of the victims belonged to Himachal Pradesh. Some of them were from Jammu and Kashmir.One bus that was caught in the mudslide was headed for Manali from Chamba, while the second bus was bound for Katra in Jammu from Manali.