Landslip in Meghalaya

SHILLONG, JUNE 6. The link between Tripura, Mizoram, south Assam and parts of Manipur and the rest of the country remained snapped today due to landslip on the National Highway in Meghalaya on Monday, official sources said.

The Jayantia Hills Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr. K. Rymbai, said even as the bus, truck and oil tanker swept by the landslip down river Lukha were retrieved, no one was found trapped inside or under the vehicles mired in the mud, slush and boulders which hurtled down the hillside destroying 400 metre stretch of the highway.

Six of the 35 passengers inside the night bus from Guwahati to Silchar were still missing even as bodies of two of them, including that of a woman, were recovered from the site yesterday. The remaining 27 passengers had already reached their destinations, Mr. Rymbai said quoting the SP of Cachar district, Mr. A. K. Kashyap. He denied reports in a section of press and the electronic media that about 40 people were feared killed in the landslip.

Rescue operations by BRTF and Assam rifles were being hampered by the continuous heavy downpour, he told PTI over phone. BRTF headquarters sources here said one company of its personnel are working round the clock to clear the debris and it may take a week to restore road communication.

A report from Silchar quoting the south Assam Director General of Police, Mr. P. P. Singh, said hundreds of vehicles were stranded on NH 44 near Sonapur, known to be a landslip-prone area. He told PTI here that four metre high rubble blocked traffic at six different places in a four km stretch on the National Highway. Three bulldozers were deployed to clear the debris, BRTF sources said.

- UNI

PTI reports from Agartala

Heavy rain in Tripura

Two persons were killed in Tripura even as the State was cut off from the rest of the country due to heavy rains since yesterday, official sources here said today. While one person was washed away in the suburbs of Agartala, another was electrocuted. Several low-lying areas were flooded with water, leaving at least 5000 people homeless. Fortyfive relief camps had been set up so far, sources said.

The Chief minister, Mr. Manik Sarkar, reviewed the situation at a Cabinet meeting and directed the authorities to take immediate steps to tackle the situation.

The heavy rains left several vehicles stranded on the Assam- Agartala highway. According to meteorological office sources the state has received 389.70 mm of rainfall since June 1, leaving all the major rivers in the state - Jhuri, Dholai, Mano and Mahuri - in spate. The rivers are flowing above danger level.

Landslides were reported at Athoramara hill range and Ghairpur in west Tripura district, the sources said.

- PTI

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