SHIMLA:
At least 15 people were killed Tuesday when a landslide triggered by torrential rains hit a passenger bus in northern India’s Himachal Pradesh state, authorities said.
The rescue workers and local villagers at the accident site were digging for survivors from under heavy boulders and mounds of earth.
The incident happened at night in Bilaspur, about 60 miles (100 kilometres) from Shimla, the capital of the picturesque Himalayan state.
“15 deaths have been confirmed so far,” the local government said in a statement.
State Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu “expressed deep sorrow and anguish over the tragic bus mishap,” the statement added.
“Three children have been rescued alive and were being treated” at a local hospital, and the rescue operations were ongoing.
It is the latest such incident in the world’s most populous country, where flash floods and landslides have already claimed dozens of casualties this monsoon season. AFP
