2 more bodies recovered from the debris of the temple, many people feared missing

Shimla: Rescuers on Tuesday pulled out two more bodies from the rubble of a Lord Shiva temple. Right now many more people are feared missing. A day earlier, torrential rains triggered a landslide in the Summer Hill area of the Himachal Pradesh capital, in which several people were buried.

The death toll in two landslide-related incidents in Shimla has risen to 16 since Monday, taking the toll to 53 in the state. In Shimla, another landslide occurred in Fagli area, in which five people lost their lives. Two teams of 14th NDRF launched a search and rescue operation and recovered two bodies from Summer Hill near Shiv Baori. NDRF has said that the operation is still going on. Besides the National Disaster Response Force, the army, police and state disaster response forces are carrying out search operations.

At least a dozen people are suspected to be buried in the Shiva temple site. After the disaster, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu took stock of the temple collapse situation and directed the officials to speed up the rescue operation. The Chief Minister told the media that the temple of Lord Shiva was crowded at the time of the disaster due to the holy month of Shravan. He said many people were feared trapped under the debris due to the massive landslide.

The work of removing debris is going on to search for people. CM Sukhu said that the entire state is grappling with a grave situation as cloudbursts and landslides have caused huge loss of life and property in many parts.