A huge avalanche hit a private bus in the Balughat area of the Jhanduta sub-division in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district on Tuesday night. At least 15 people died. Search and rescue operations are still going on, although they have been stopped and started because it has been raining nonstop in the area since Monday.
The bus, which had about 25 to 30 people on it, was going from Marotan to Ghumarwin at about 6:30 p.m. when the accident happened.
The accident and the people who were hurt
The bus was entirely crushed by the weight of the mountain coming down. Local police, the district administration, and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams all hurried to the scene, using JCBs to clear the heavy rubble and look for survivors.
Deaths: At least 15 passengers died, including the bus driver and conductor.
Two kids, a 12-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, were hurt. An official spokesperson said that they have been moved to AIIMS, Bilaspur, with minor injuries and are now stable.
Rescue Obstacle: Jhandutta sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Arshiya Sharma verified the deaths but said that the actual number of people is still unknown. The police said that rain that comes and goes has always stopped rescue attempts.
Leaders of the country show their sadness
The tragic deaths caused national and state political leaders to express their condolences.
President Droupadi Murmu commented on X (previously Twitter) that the news was “extremely tragic” and sent her sympathies to the relatives of the dead while hoping for the quick recovery of the injured.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was thinking of the relatives of the victims and said that the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) would give ₹2 lakh to the next of kin of each individual who died. People who got hurt would get ₹50,000.
Other leaders who also conveyed their sadness over the deadly accident were Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Minister J P Nadda, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri.