29 killed in Himachal Pradesh rains, nine of them in Shimla landslides

Shimla: At least 29 people were killed in Himachal Pradesh, nine of them buried under the rubble of temple and after another landslip in Shimla, as rains wreaked havoc in the state, triggering landslides that blocked key roads and brought down houses, officials said on Monday.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said nine bodies have been pulled out of the debris of a Shiv temple in the Summer Hill area and the other disaster site in Shimla's Fagli area, where several houses were buried under mud and slush.

Up to 15 other people are feared trapped at these two sites.

In Solan district, seven members of a family were killed in a cloudburst.

Two houses in Solan were washed away following the cloudburst on Sunday night. While six people were rescued, seven others were killed in Jadon village, a police official said.

The dead have been identified as Harnam (38), Kamal Kishore (35), Hemlata (34), Rahul (14), Neha (12), Golu (8) and Raksha (12), Superintendent of Police, Solan, Gaurav Singh said.

In Balera panchayat of the district, two children died as their makeshift house collapsed in a landslide and the body of one of them has been recovered. Another woman died in a landslide in Banal village of Ramsheher tehsil, said Deputy Commissioner of Solan Manmohan Sharma.

In Hamirpur, Deputy Commissioner said that three persons have died while two are missing due to incessant rains in the district. He appealed to all the residents of the district to take special precautions in view of the bad weather and avoid going out unnecessarily.

Seven members of a family, including a two-year-old, were killed in a landslide late on Sunday night in Seghli panchayat of Mandi district. Three persons were rescued, Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary said.